Keep the streets empty for me
by whotakesthesepictures
Summary: Jane Rizzoli meets Maura Isles. Simple as that. Kidding. Dr. Isles meets a prostitute, the undercover Officer Rizzoli. Shit's gonna hit the fan. This a different take on how they met and how they became what they are today. "Really Rizzoli? This is what you've become? Take a mental health day when this sting operation is over, you just whored yourself out for a cup of coffee."
1. This too shall pass

_A/N 1: Thank you so very much for the beta Krazyhippo66- this would have been a train wreck without your guidance and goodhearted patience._

_A/N 2: I'm very aware that this might be a bit long for a chapter, but its just to get a feel for the characters before I start making them wish someone else was responsible for the things they're about to encounter. Oh, and this is reduntant: Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro, TNT etc. you know the drill. They own, live and breathe these characters and get money for it. Not me._

"**Keep the streets empty for me"**

Jane Rizzoli had reached a point where she didn't even bother checking if her legs were still attached to the rest of her body. She was too tired to be her usual paranoid self and sweep her apartment for intruders, and she was most certainly too tired to think of anything else but what her wonderful bed would feel like underneath her.

This had definitely been one of _those_ days. You know, the ones people think back on when they're having a competition about who had the worst day of their existence and they're competing about the last brownie on the tray. Well, one thing was for sure, Jane definitely had that brownie in the bag. Either way though, Jane just wanted desperately to lose herself in the mattress that was no more than 34 centimeters away. She would even hand out brownies to people if it meant someone responsible for her catholic upbringing would remind her body how the usage of feet was supposed to work.

Officer Jane Rizzoli was pretty sure the whole neighborhood could hear the sigh of relief that washed over her when her now completely unruly hair hit the soft comfort of her pillow. A pillowcase that probably should have gone a cycle in the washer (maybe two), but she would do that tomorrow. Or the day after, if she could just sleep she would…- Six seconds between trying to finish the sentence in her head and she was asleep. If she was still awake she'd congratulate herself with what had to be a new personal best.

Jane was pulled into consciousness as sunlight warmed her face. She failed, however, to open her eyes, praying it was just a part of her dream. When it was apparent that this was not the case, she swore internally, cursing herself for failing to remember that simplest of tasks. Closing the frigging curtains. She could just hear her mother now. 'Jane Clementine Rizzoli! How hard is it to think about your health every once in a while? You hardly eat, you hardly sleep. I mean, for Christ sake, you're aging fast than I am! Dark circles, worry lines…I'd peg you for thirty-five and you're barely past drinking age!'

Jane groaned, a dry sob racking through her body. Why did her life suck so damn much? Even something as beautiful as sunlight was pissing her off. Almost as much as the blinking light on her cell telling her she had a missed call.

The officer stretched for the phone, craning her neck to get a better angle. Bad idea. It cracked loudly in protest, telling her she probably shouldn't have fallen asleep with her face stuck beneath her arm and stay in the same position for...what was it? She glanced to the clock on her nightstand. An eternal groan came with the answer. Great. Six hours of sleep. That sounds totally reasonable. It's not like she needed to regain some sort of pattern or anything.

She tried again to grab the phone, successful this time. She hit the voicemail button, turning on the speakerphone and tossing the phone onto the bed beside her.

"Rizzoli? It's Cavanaugh. I know you're probably catching up on your sleep, but I need you back down at the station, Officer Hastings called off our case for a personal emergency and I need you to replace her. It's your chance kid. You get to leave that desk of yours for some field work. If you can help us wrap up this case, you're one step closer to Detective, Rizzoli. Get down here when you get this message."

Her heart fluttered slightly at the word 'detective.' She knew it was a long way away, but still. She couldn't help the butterflies that roared to life in her when she heard the title. The little buggars had a life of their own when it came to her dream job.

Jane took a moment, waiting for her nerves to settle, and then she stood labouredly, scanning the room. She made quick work of finding her uniform scattered around the floor, yanking on her shoes and running for the door.

It didn't matter that the message had been from three hours earlier. She knew she was still needed…mostly because she was the only other woman in vice.

The briefing in itself wasn't too bad, she knew the case inside out already, having been working overtime on it for the past two weeks, only she was slightly uncomfortable with her sergeant blushing when handing the appropriate attire she'd be sporting. Officer Hastings who had been working the case from within the system had to drop out as she was the sole caregiver of her grandmother who had fallen ill the night before and her presence was understandably needed elsewhere. Jane knew quite well that any male officer would've killed to be a part of a big operation like this one, and she also knew that had the job _not_ been relevant to her sex, she'd have been pretty low on the list of officers to be selected. Which was only fair, judging as she was the newbie, but still. She'd proven herself plenty before, so she didn't feel _too_ bad getting the chance.

Either way, attention was not high on her list of needs, so she just slipped quietly out of the conference room and back to the bullpen, flopping her exhausted body into Korsak's desk chair.

"Hey, Rizzoli! Heard you're moving up in the world."

Jane grimaced at the sound of Crowe's voice from across the room. She kept her eyes averted, knowing full well he'd have a smug smirk plastered on his face. And she _knew_ seeing that would send her right over the edge. Oh yes, the briefing she could handle, the job in itself she would handle just like she did everything else. But that fucking case of hormones packed up in a greasy douche bag with Crowe for a nametag was seriously getting on her last nerve. Like it hadn't been enough to grow up on the same street as him, now she had the fortune of being graced with his presence every day he bothered showing his face at the precinct. Even _thinking_ about him made her face flush with anger, but she took in a deep breath, gathered herself, before turning her head to look at him.

"It's about time you used that body of yours for something other than giving Sgt. Taylor high blood pressure every time you drop a file on the floor," he quipped, eyeing the scandalous outfit she'd discarded on Korsak's desk.

"Fuck you. I swear Crowe, the next time that sensitivity freak appears in the elevator, I'll hand her your ass on a silver platter. How the hell did you even pass your test the first time around?" she snapped, her glare boring deep into him.

He just gave her a cocky grin, sauntering closer to her.

"You better get that mouth fixed before we let you out there. No one wants a foul mouthed hooker on the other end of their junk."

He gave a smug pause, taking a few more steps until their legs were touching and he was towering over her.

"But I guess you already knew that as your bed has been awfully empty ever since you reached puberty and realized that people were supposed to reproduce."

Jane placed her hand over her mouth, feigning shock.

"Oh no! You caught me. I had no idea you knew me that well!" she gasped, an over-exaggerated airiness in her tone.

If there was one thing Jane Rizzoli had perfected over the years since puberty it was faking affection towards the male race.

"Yes, I do indeed cry myself to sleep every night holding a pillow to my rapidly beating heart asking God why", Jane continued breathily, letting her pitch waver as if she were in tears. She couldn't help but think her high school drama teacher Mr. Harris must have wiped away a tear if he could see the heartbreaking confession she was performing. She stood up, their faces inches apart. "oh _why_ do I not have someone to cuddle with and stroke my hair until I fall asleep? Oh pretty please, dear God", she breathed, her hands clutching against her heart like a prayer. "Have pity on me and please let Crowe come and sneak into my bedroom when I'm on the brink of losing hope and show me how a _real_ man feels," she finished, dramatically grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and pulling them infinitely closer together. And there she lingered, until she was sure he was thoroughly tempted and aroused. Then, with a sly grin, she shoved him backward, into the nearest chair. Her colleagues laughed at the disheveled man, sitting frozen in the chair, his mouth gaping open, his chest heaving to try and slow his pounding heart. Jane was amazed she had managed to finish the sentence without getting sick, and she once again let herself fall back into Korsak's chair.

"You done there Rizzoli?" Cavanaugh asked, the sound of his voice nearly knocking Jane out of the chair in embarrassment. "I need your attention on some last details before we get you out there so you know who you'll be looking for. I'm sure Crowe would wish nothing else than to make sweet, sweet love to you, but time is ticking and if we want our guy before he sells the rest of Eastern Europe's young women to our lowlife men of Boston there's a lot to get done. And you—" he made a big thing about pointing his finger at Crowe, "If you don't get your shit together and start treating your fellow Officers with some more respect I'll have you transferred to Evidence."

Sergeant Cavanaugh looked between Rizzoli's death glare and the easy smirk planted on Crowe's face and shook his head. This was the reason he never let his kids discuss football or other things they were passionate about during dinner, on the rare occasion he made it home in time. Too much testosterone, too many suppressed emotions, not enough outlets. And damn it if he was about to have two teenagers at his hands while at work too.

"Now get back to work," he grumbled.

Cavanaugh was just about to head into his office to get a file when he caught the mimic of Crowe imitating giving himself a hand job.

"Come to think of it, you really could learn something from Rizzoli here, as she clearly outclassed you on every physical test you had to complete before getting accepted. If you used what little you have of brain activity to realize she also is way out of your league you'd probably sleep better at night." They could hear him muttering the word "teenagers" as he closed the door to his office.

"Wow, it sure must be nice to be a dyke and looking like you do in this profession. That way you can be like every other woman out there, play the guys like you want and then if you don't get your way you'll get sympathy if someone tries to call you on your shit. You've got all your bases covered! You can play the sexual harassment card or the discrimination against free love card."

If Jane had a couple more minutes of sleep the night before she would've probably thought twice about how painful it would've been for her knuckles to clash against Crowe's jaw, but alas, none such extra sleep was had. In one fluid motion, she stood, crossed the room in two strides, and gave him a nasty left hook. All things considered, the satisfaction of hearing his surprise and complementary moan of pain that followed made it more than worth it. What neither of them realized, though, was that Cavanaugh had in fact, not shut his door.

"You pull that shit again and you'll not see the inside of a bullpen in this city or any other what use you'll be supervising traffic for the rest of your days. You got that?" he bellowed, rushing over to the two.

Jane's face was red yet again, from both anger and embarrassment, until of course, she realized _she _was not the one being yelled at.

"You ok Rizzoli?" he asked, his eyes peering into hers in genuine concern.

It made her want to laugh and yell at the same time. Laugh because it always felt good to win out over Crowe. Yell, because she hated being caught losing control like that, especially by her commanding officer, but if Cavanaugh hadn't entered when he heard the commotion she was one more punch from losing her job.

"See, right there, way to make a point, huh?" Crowe glowered, nursing his quickly bruising jaw. "You're the one throwing the punches and I'm the one getting in trouble. Comes in hand to be the sergeant's favorite. "

Jane felt a bitter laugh spill from her lips. All she had wanted was a reason. Just one reason to give him a matching bruise on the other side of his face, and he had given it to her. The problem, though, was she felt Cavanaugh's warning grip on her arm. The punch would have to wait for another day.

"You walked right into that one, Crowe. Lucky for you I'm about to play a hooker so you can dream about my fish stockings. And you know, I _could_ write you up for sexual harassment, but that's just an excuse, and excuses are for the weak. Somehow outing you as the fuckup you are is more satisfactory."

"One day Rizzoli you can't hide who you truly are to everyone else in this precinct, and when that day comes I'll be there to remind you just how wrong your choice is. You'll see how it is when no one has your back, and I'll be sure to take great advantage of that fact."

If Jane had been more herself she would have picked her brain trying to figure out what the hell Crowe had meant with his threat, but unfortunately, all her energy was being used to keep herself standing upright. So, instead of settling the argument once and for all, she gave him a glare, collecting her cell and her prostitute getup and walking swiftly out the door.

She walked home. It helped, surprisingly. The cool air whipping against her cheeks as she walked was grounding. It helped her keep her level head as she trudged up her apartment stairs. When she was no longer outside, though, she felt her rage boil up once again, and in the comfort of her own home, she let it.

Jane Rizzoli was a lot of things. Stubborn, of course. Proud, definitely. Bitchy, on occasion. What bothered her most about Crowe's words was that she _knew _he had just said them to upset her, and yet she still gave the words weight. No matter how many laps she paced in her living room, she could not shake his point away. What if she only had this job _because_ she was a woman…It scared her to no end that she might not be enough, and yet, she _knew _she was good enough. First of all, she had moves.. How to move around a perp and get the best of him while always landing on her own feet. Fine, so perhaps not _always_, but she did a damn fine job most of the time, which is why she knew how to move around with a vacuum cleaner without tripping on its cord. Second, she had passion. She fought harder than any other man on the force, and it showed. She had climbed in rank faster than anyone else around her, and she wasn't ashamed to admit the pride she felt in that.

What she could not stand, though, was when they let her get away with emotional slip ups. She could almost _hear_ them thinking 'oh, she's just a girl. she doesn't _need_ control over herself; it's natural that way.' or 'men compartmentalize better than women; it's understandable her work is taking a toll on her emotions.' It made her want to shove pointy things down peoples throats.

She slammed her palm against the wall, the release calming her slightly. Not, you know, a lot, but still.

Friggin' compartmentalize this: when you entered the academy you fell asleep exhausted every night with a dream of once making a change for the better, such as holding people in custody while interrogating the living crap out of them, telling them how they would suffer for their crimes and you would leave at the end of a day with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that you had just actively participated in making the world a better place to enjoy life. What you didn't expect was to be up at four in the morning vacuuming, simply because you needed a sense of- well, _something_, because in approximately three hours you would have to get in your fish stockings and spend your night trolling for old greasy men that wanted a quick lay in the back of their trucks.

After her angry internal monologue ended, she took a cold shower, letting the icy water wash away as much of the anger as she would allow. She then yanked on her fishnets, shimmied into the leather miniskirt, and pulled the god-awful pink blouse over her head.

Jane was standing on the corner of 5th and North Street. If it hadn't been for the McDonalds across from her she wouldn't even be able to tell what time it was. It was a sincerely weird feeling standing there in her outfit praying that someone would find her appealing enough to want to get with her. For some strange reason it took her back to high school, standing awkwardly in a corner looking at all the couples who were slow dancing in the centre of the floor snuggled up to each other and enjoying the aftermath of what came with being popular. After what apparently had been five hours in heels, the only thing that kept her still on her feet were Cavanaugh's parting words:

"_Alright, so here's the deal. You go out there, walk the streets, soak up every word that can be useful in this case, find out who deals directly with Mason, you try to befriend his clientele, then you make it known that you're on the lookout for a new supplier. If that turns out to be Jason Degressi, you get the hell out of there. We know he's behind the streak of hookers being slaughtered like pigs down by the east harbor. You find out it's him, and you're out of there. You go to the closest gas station, don't make yourself known as an officer, borrow the phone and await further orders, is that clear?"_

"_Yes Sir." Jane was already on the last page in the folder. _

"_I know we haven't given you much time to get familiar with this case from the undercover angle, so just remember, ask no questions that will jeopardize your sense of evolvement in the business, got that? Any questions?"_

"_No, Sir." The manila folder held pictures of both Degressi and Mason, they looked just like your everyday lawyer or postman, one would have never known what they were capable of just by looking at their appearance._

"_Alright, go home and get some sleep. Oh, and Rizzoli," Jane looked up from the snapshots taken from afar, "be careful out there. I'll see you here tomorrow at 10PM for your briefing if nothing goes down tonight."_

Well, the night had been sincerely uneventful so far. If you didn't count the six busts she'd made possible the two first hours on the street. After that, things had slowed down, and judging by the hostility from _Missy_ two blocks further up the street, her busts had gone entirely unnoticed as she was still getting remarks and threats to get off her corner as she was stealing all her clients from her. No sign of the two faces she was on the lookout for so far. Which, now that she thought about it was probably for the better, accepting this assignment without taking into consideration how desperately she was in need of some proper sleep probably wasn't the best idea she'd had lately. Then again, throwing away an opportunity like this would have been more of a foolish move.

Jane dared a glance over at McDonalds gruesome orange interior again, squinting to make out what time the clock showed, because god forbid night workers actually had the need to wear a watch. She made a mental note to take that up with Cavanaugh the moment she had the chance. Actually, that time was almost within her reach, if someone had remembered to check if the clock was actually the precise time, she had time to get a cup of much needed coffee before having to report back.

"You ungodly…stupid son of a—Oh come on!" Jane glowered.

The officers standing around the entrance to the Boston Police Department's café welcomed the ridiculous sight of their awkward colleague masquerading around like a prostitute. The woman had no talent in heels, and had managed to get one of them wedged into the fraying carpet. They grinned at each other as she yanked her foot free, happy for the entertainment at such an ungodly hour. Those few who were _not_ cops just stared at her, confusion in their eyes as they studied her. The lanky brunette was not particularly elegant in her movements and there was an off-putting attitude radiating off her, so how on earth she was still afloat after the weekend they didn't know. Really, wasn't a woman of the night supposed to be welcoming and bend to a man's every little wish and quick impulse? Clearly, this was a lost case. Perhaps that was the very reason the woman was standing in line harassing Stanly and trying to make a simple dollar cover her doughnut and coffee.

Dr. Maura Isles, the chief Medical Examiner at Boston PD, had worked in the department for a little over six months when she found herself standing in line watching the unappealingly dressed woman try to get her money's worth. Being the only woman on a daily basis in the morgue, she couldn't help but notice the attention the woman was oblivious to.

All around her, female and male officers were eying Jane up from the sleek leather stilettos to her fishnet stockings and the little number she was sporting as a dress to cover the very least her bottom. Maura took notice too, but only that it was possibly the worst attire she has seen out in daylight and hoped the woman just had a bad day when she was getting dressed, or all her light bulbs were out so she didn't see how she had managed to miss-match every single fabric she had layered on her lean body.

"I'm starving. Come on Stanly, you know I'm good for it," she said roughly.

Oh, this was so not Jane's day. Actually, it was quite possibly the worst day she'd ever had. Worse than her high school graduation when she managed to trip onstage and single-handedly rip down the curtains as she went. Worse than the day she had been caught sneaking out the back of the church by Father Williams when she didn't particularly wish to be one on one with him in the confession booth. It was even worse thanthe day she had caught her Ma and Pop "taking a nap" when she was 14. In fact, she would gladly relive each of those days all over again, if only this day would just end...

"I don't know anything about you, _Tiffany_," he teased, a mischievous grin slipping onto his face.

_Seriously, this is not happening. Breathe Rizzoli. Give yourself a couple of seconds to keep your cool. You're an officer. Do not hurt this man. _Officer_. _Not_ murderer. Alright, so that didn't work.  
I swear to God if my throat doesn't feel the burning liquid of some black coffee the next three seconds I'm… that's right. Clench your fist; make sure the man knows you mean business._

"Really? What- two dollars for a day old doughnut, and bad coffee? Please, come on, I'll pay you back after my shift."

_There, I said please. WHY is there a stupid rule where you're not allowed to have cash when you're undercover? Five dollars, big whoop! Oh no,_ "that would blow your cover, cause hookers don't have cash"._ Really! What imaginary income do they get then? Polka dot sporting marzipan pigs? _

"Ha, you think you'll make that much?" For once in his life Stanly could gloat of having the power of the young Officer. Oh how he loved it and darn it if he wasn't going to milk it for as long as it took to get her out of there.

_Oh he did seriously not just… If I wanted to make money I wouldn't have chosen _this_ as the lovely thing to wear. Wait, why am I having this conversation in my head and why is it getting to me? Oh wait, it's not, cause I'm a friggin' OFFICER!_

"You know what…" The woman at the front of the line was about to make a scene, hands clenching and noses trails flaring. As they were in the middle of a police station, Maura realized she could stop all of this if she reached out to the woman in need. Little did she know that she would be at the receiving end of the classic Rizzoli dagger-eyed stare, telling her to mind her own business.

"Do you mind?! You can get your non fat latte in a minute, alright!"

_Who is this woman, and why can't she just… _not_ be here right now? Ouch, eye rolling huuurts. Focus._

Jane glared down at her, masking the fact that she was quite honestly checking the woman shoes, lovely hair, flawless makeup… All things that would take a long time in the morning, Jane noted. She probably didn't have kids, though she was old enough to, as that would have robbed her of her bright eyes and would definitely be time consuming in the morning rendering the woman to not be so culminated in her application of eyeliner.

_Jeez Jane, get a grip, you're scrutinizing a woman for wearing makeup. Time to get some sleep. Wait, one more thing, why on earth is she wearing rubber gloves? Seriously? You have got to be kidding me… Do I look _that_ bad?_

Jane couldn't believe someone would be so… heartless and cold? Was that the right words? No, more that someone could think so highly of themselves that they wouldn't touch a hookers hand without protection. That really made the shit hit the fan in her brain.

Being a doctor first, Maura realized that if she didn't want her money the very least she could do was tell her what her body would need after some heavy… night work.

She was fairly certain she had handled herself well given the circumstances and couldn't believe it when the woman refused her money and instead put up a sour face and looked down at her.

"Not every hooker has a heart of cold, sister." _There, go apply some makeup and try and smear some goodness into your own heart. I'm not going to be on the receiving end of a dollar just so you can sleep better at night patting yourself on the back cause "oh, you're such a nice person."_

Oh, a light bulb flicked on in Maura's head, she had heard this sentence being uttered before! She remembered it was supposed to be said with a layer of sarcasm, as you really didn't mean well to the person you were saying it to, so she concluded a sly; "- Apparently not, _sistah_-" in return, silently cheering on the inside because she remembered this part of pop culture.

All Jane could do was shake her head and take the lukewarm coffee she barely afforded on her dollar and try and get the hell out of there before she ever had to see that woman again. If she was lucky, she didn't actually work in the department but was some kind of high end lawyer that just had to make a pit stop.

_Pretty please, let her be one of those. _

Jane roughly pushed the door open with her shoulder, rushing out into the crisp morning air. She made her way clumsily down the stairs, heading back toward the air conditioning truck that concealed her partners from the Johns they had spent all night catching.

"How much do you take for an hour?"

Jane's head snapped around from where she was standing on the pavement, quickly taking in the appearance of same woman she had just been toe to toe with in the café not minutes ago.

"Excuse me?!" she asked incredulously, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry, perhaps I didn't articulate myself right, what I meant to ask, is how much "dough" do you charge for an hour of your services?" Maura knew that marathon of Sopranos would come in handy one day. Only too bad she had been battling pneumonia in order to get herself to that stage.

"Look woman, I'm not sure if you want to do this." _God, if you're listening, please answer me this; is this because I stopped going to church on Sundays? You do realize I should get deduction points for getting drug dealers off the streets, right?_

"Even if I'm particularly far away from my normal comfort zone I think it would be quite informative to understand more about what you do for a living…so thank you for your concern, but I'm fairly certain I know what I'm doing."

_I can't believe it, this… woman, is trying to _buy_ me? And exactly what does she think I'll be educating her on? How to blow a guy? No. Just no. This does _not_ fall under my job description. _

"Fine, hit me up with five Benjamin's and I'll get talking, if you throw in a coffee I'll even tell you the juicy stuff." Jane wiggled her eyebrows ready for the shorter woman's downfall, grinning widely at the prospect of winning.

Maura searched her brain while trying to remember what she was agreeing to. Benjamin's… Benjamin's… Benjamin Franklin! Slang term for the $100 dollar bill, named such because of the man portrayed on them.

Jane's smug grin quickly faded, though, when the impeccable dressed woman in front of her opened her purse and proceeded to pull out the desired amount with a brilliant smile. While she was waiting for the woman do decline her offer she figured now was as good of a time as any to stomp her foot to see if the chewing gum she had stepped in earlier had found somewhere else to hang around.

"Here you go, but please, I don't need to learn the basics of pleasuring a man, I'm quite adept at figuring out that on my own thank you. I just want to know how you ended up on the streets." Jane's jaw dropped just a little before she reeled herself in again.

_Unbelivable! Who walks around with that much cash on them? Worst. Day. EVER._

The cop in her wanted to shake the woman for being senseless enough to splay the cash right out in the open. Yeah, being outside the police station made sure most people weren't stupid enough to try to rob her, but people had eyes and it wasn't exactly rocket science to simply follow a person a block or two away. She also realized she must have said some of her inner monologue out loud.

"Why are you doing this?" Jane practically whined. She didn't have time for this. Her feet were killing her, she'd just pulled an all-nighter trying to impress Cavanaugh….She just wanted to go back to the van, give back the wire she still had taped on her, and then go home.

Maura eyed the woman for a second longer then what appropriate behavior would allow. There was just something about her that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Not literally of course, it would be quite simple to just poke her finger in the air and hit that horrible fluffy down jacket with her fingertip. Really, if nothing came out of this, at least she knew what to look for if her mother ever decided to throw a "Bad Taste" party. Which was highly unlikely, seeing as the last time she had spoken to her mother had been…quite a while ago.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Jane snapped her fingers in front of the petite woman, trying to gauge her attention. She looked like she was deep in thought about something that didn't leave a pleasant feeling. Any other time and Jane would have asked her what was bothering her, but as this was not a woman she knew, nor had the desire to actually get to know, and added the fact that she was a hooker for the day and on work, she was hungry like a… wow, there really was a lot of things that told her she shouldn't be wasting her time with this. However, there was coffee in her near future. Damn those addicting beans…

"I'm sorry, I should have explained myself better, how rude of me, I sincerely apologize if you think this is out of charity. I simply am curious, I like to do some anthropology on the side and you just seemed like the perfect specimen."

"Really." _Specimen, I am being referred to as a specimen. Coffee, wherever you're being brewed, you better be worth this._ "You know what, fine. I'll tell you whatever you want, but I don't want your money," Jane muttered, crumpling the bills back into the woman's hand.

_Wait a second, did I just agree to a coffee with this woman? Dear mind, what are you doing to me? What am I supposed to say to her? Hmm… maybe I can feign nausea or something the second I get my coffee and run out of there. Really Rizzoli? This is what you've become? Take a mental health day when this sting operation is over, you just whored yourself out for a cup of coffee._

"Oh really, I insist. Please, it's the least I can do for your trouble."

_You're damn right. Unfortunately I'm a cop and I can't accept your offer. Even if it would be enough to buy me a portable coffee machine. _

Jane turned and gave a last, longing look at the undercover van, then gave a defeated sigh, turning back to the honey blonde.

"Just get me a coffee and we'll call it even," she said, giving the woman an unenthusiastic smile.

_Alright Rizzoli, time to wing it._

___**A/N 3: Wanna know what happens next? **_


	2. No time for concern

**A/N 1: I cannot begin to describe how immensely happy I am about all your reviews/follows and alerts! Thank you so very much! This however brings me to A/N 2: I have the technical insight of a breadstick: I have no idea how to reply to your lovely comments- so usually I only reply out loud to myself when I read them. If you're not getting my replies I'm really sorry and blame the hole in our ozone layer. A/N 3: I know some of you probably want to slap me for being the slowest person ever to update a story, but I've been on vacation (which will result in some new chapters) and my boss punished me for having a brilliant time by making sure I spend every waking moment back being at work. This shall improve though. So you will get more. Soon. A/N 4: (is there a limit to these things?) A big shout out to my lovely beta Krazyhippo66! She makes me sound so much more intelligent than I really am. A/N 5: Hope you enjoy the new chapter! **

Jane didn't even bother checking to see if it was clear before striding across the street. She was dressed so obnoxiously, she was sure half the city could see her, diminishing her risk of getting hit. And as an afterthought, she quite honestly didn't care if she got run over. The sooner she got this over with the better. But of course, she tripped on the curb and before Maura could register what was happening, the lanky form sprawled out in front of her was giving a not so private schooling of every single swear word in the English language, making Maura blush at the crudeness. To be honest, she hadn't even heard some of them before.

As the air left her lungs, Jane could clearly see her Nonna's face looking down at her four year old self, telling her how much "haste makes waste" while applying a Band-Aid to her scratched knee and sneaking a worn finger over her cheek to dry a stray tear. Maybe if she had remembered the stupid skyscrapers on her feet known as stiletto boots, she wouldn't have fallen, but alas, she had been distracted. Distracted by the conversation she had just had, by the fact that trying to stay out of trouble only put her in more, and by the woman who continually gaped at her fishnet covered legs. Ultimately it had to happen, though. It wasn't like she had expected her week from hell to magically turn into a fairytale at the end of her shift.

"Oh my, are you alright?" Maura asked, torn between her genuine concern and genuine amusement.

Maura Isles definitely appreciated a good old fashioned laugh when someone tripped, especially because she often missed what others called well delivered quips. She knew it was a somewhat horrible quality, laughing at the expense of others, but she took her victories where she could get them. What she could not do, this time around though, was mask her smirk, and the brunette on the ground gave her a death glare.

"I'm extremely happy you're finding this amusing." Something in the woman's voice and body language told Maura that she wasn't really at all that happy for causing a smile to appear on her features.

"I'm really sorry," Maura offered, her eyes narrowing as she checked for injures. The darkness was proving to be quite a problem though, and her injury search quickly turned into a long staring session of the woman's toned thighs. She cleared her throat, extending her hand down. "Let me help you up before you get run over by a vehicle."

"Oh, no. You keep your hands and eyes to yourself missy. I know how to take care of myself." The last of her sentence was mumbled as Jane tried to catch her balance and get her ass away from the less than stellar perch she seemed glued to. At least that had been her intentions, but something was stuck. _Great_. More chewing gum. Seriously, if she wasn't busy keeping innocent women safe from human traffickers, she'd walk around with a gun and threaten every single person chewing a frigging bubble and make sure they'd walk on Legos bare feet every morning for the rest of their lives if they didn't manage to get them into a perfectly noticeable and available trash can. But as luck would have it, innocent women needed saving.

"Cherry."

"No…The name's Tiffany. T-I-F-F-A-N-Y. I'm…well I'm less than impressed. I thought lawyers had the memory equivalent to elephants to keep up with all the new loopholes for new cases." Did she sound childish? Probably. But she was a little bitter, embarrassed even, at having met such a put together, fancy lawyer in such circumstances, improperly dressed and without her pride. Without her shiny badge.

"I'm sorry Tiffany, I was referring to the flavor of the chewing gum that is currently located on yourGluteus Maximus. As for elephants, or Loxodonta or Elephas as they are referred to in Africa and India respectively: they both descend from the same taxonomic family, and you are right. They have a remarkable memory because of the extra folding found in their temporal lobes, more importantly their hippocampi and neostriatum. However an elephant's brain weighs more than five kilograms, so I'm afraid humans don't have that capacity." By the end of Maura's very informative rant, Jane found her mouth had dropped open.

"I, uhh…that's kinda cool," was all Jane could mutter as she clumsily brushed dust from her shirt.

Maura didn't answer, pulling out a flashlight from her Birkin.

"What kind of lawyer walks around with a flashlight in their purse?" Jane managed to ask, her mind still stuck on the elephant speech, feeling rather dumb that all she could picture was dancing elephants in tutus from the Lion King.

Again, Maura ignored her, shining the light down on Jane's leg. Jane followed the light downward, to find she was not only seasoned with chewing gum essence but also a gash on her leg from the unwanted contact with the pavement.

"I don't know." If Maura hadn't been so caught up trying to summon a recent fact she had read about assaults in cities performed on women where a flashlight had at one point been involved, she'd probably correct Jane's assumption that her profession was indeed a lawyer.

Maura realized she had been staring straight at the woman's fishnet stockings a little longer than what was deemed socially appropriate. Granted she was looking a little higher than those legs, at the edge of the enticing skirt, as if hoping it would lift a little higher, but that detail wasn't so important. Not good, Maura. Not good. She shook her head to rid herself of the not so good thoughts and took a step closer to the injured woman.

Jane started to feel a bit bad for treating the woman so badly when the honey-blonde reached out and grabbed her chin. Jane jerked away, only to have the woman's hand back on her chin, gripping her firmly in place.

"Hold still," Maura commanded, shining the light into Jane's eyes, eliciting another groan and a wince from the brunette, who once again tried to pull away.

"What the hell are you doing?" she grumbled angrily as the woman refused to let go, shining the light back and forth in front of her eyes.

"I am checking pupil reaction. Making sure you don't have a concussion."

Jane let out a dramatic sigh, relaxing her muscles and locking her eyes with the stranger's in wait. Finally, the woman let her chin go and lowered the flashlight.

"You're sure you're alright?" Maura asked warily, hoping and praying the question was the right one. It was unnerving how confusing social etiquettes were. Sometimes she worried she'd never get them right, and the thought made the world spin around her.

"Yeah, thanks." Well, her Ma had gotten something across in her upbringing, be nice when someone helps you up from the ground and all that. She threw in a little smile just at the end of her sentence for good measure. She had been kind of rude to the woman.

"So…" Jane eyed the other woman, from her Manolo Blahnik's to her Valentino sleeveless dress. Oh yes, Jane knew her brands. Vogue had been her last resort when she was waiting for in the dentist office last Wednesday. Something she still regretted reading.

"Let's get you some of that coffee, shall we?" Maura smiled brightly finally getting a smile in return.

Jane tried for the life of her to actually follow the conversation the woman in her company was arguably having with herself, but for some reason all she could think of was superheroes. Weird? Sure, maybe a little, however it did have some vague connection to her work if one looked really _really_ (microscopically) close. Female superheroes… Nope, Jane couldn't think of one single badass female superhero that had actually been born with their abilities. 'Cause the females in the Incredibles didn't really count, as in her head they weren't old school enough to be in the evaluated in the same category**. **The male ones always had it easier.Spiderman, bitten by spider (_no shit, Sherlock_). Superman, figgin' out of this world powers, literally. Batwoman- no fancy bites, however stupid costume just to show off her butt. And whiskers. Really, Black Widow, named a spider name, but no spider bite, just sassy sexual intelligence. _Damn this coffee is __**good**__!_

_Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does… _Fun fact about Jane: give her some coffee and her mood gets elevated into something reminiscent of a giddy schoolgirl handing her favorite teacher an apple.

"-Man I wish I got bitten by a spider…" Maura looked at Tiffany in alarm, racking her brain to find one subject in their conversation that could possibly venture this as a reply, afraid she's missed another social cue. She found no subject compatibility, and even if she was accustomed to not particularly be eloquently prepared for every conversational topic, she did firmly believe she had the grounds to ask where the outburst came from.

"Excuse me?" She wasn't even rude about it. Jane was taken just a little bit by surprise, especially since she had just, on a very long sigh, proclaimed her wish to be bitten by a spider. Something she hadn't meant to do out loud.

"I'm sorry. Er… Wow, I just realized I don't even know your name, I kinda drifted of a little bit, sorry about that."

Maura couldn't help but smile a little at the blush forming on the woman's beautiful features at the admittance. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure you've had a long night."

If Jane was a little more present she'd probably catch the fact that her reply could've conjured quite a number of vivid images when only one person knows the true meaning of: "Oh hell yes, you have no idea all the shit I've been deep in. I mean, like up to my nose! Some of the things... it should have been illegal in all 50 states if you ask me!" To Maura it literally meant Jane had been up in someone's rear. This made the honey-blonde wrinkle her nose, which she quickly masked as a sneeze, not completely forgetting her manners. This was after all someone's living, even if it was illegal. The thing that struck her the most she realized after having been in this woman's company for a good 23 minutes, was how incredible stunning she was. Even if it was hidden behind layers of cheap makeup not very particularly applied. This woman could be a model if she just spent a few minutes with a makeup remover.

"If you don't mind my input, I figured I could ease your mind a little and tell you how most spiders actually do bite humans. Most spider bites, however, occur when humans unintentionally appear threatening and receive a defensive bite. On rare occasions, spiders may make prey mistakes and bite a human finger or other body part as though it were a caterpillar or other such insect."

"That wasn't exactly… I meant more like Spiderman." Seriously, where did this woman get her information from?

"I'm sorry, who? A man that is a spider? That is biologically impossible. The human DNA is not compatible to arachnid DNA and-"

"You don't know who Spiderman is? He's your friendly neighbor! Where were you raised, Mars?"

"Actually, no. I was born in Boston, but my parents moved around quite a bit because of their respective fields, and later on I was sent to boarding school in Europe." Of course she was all fancy pants boarding school material. _Should have known… Way to be a detective Rizzoli. Just look at her! She's got a friggin napkin in her lap!_

"Oh, well, good for you, but it still doesn't mean you shouldn't know who Spiderman is. They do have theaters and comic book shops in Europe too you know."

"Oh, I know! The Comédie-Française is just fascinating! I used to go there once a month to see _Les Femmes savantes_, it was the most thrilling experience whenever Philaminte showed up, you know, the mother who fires her maid for crimes against grammar? It was always done with such perfection."

"And theeeen spiderman came in and webbed them all?" Well, at least Jane tried.

"No, of course not." Maura was the picture of confusion, what would a DNA mash up of a spider and a man, who clearly could not exist, be doing in a production about female education?

As the bell rang on the door Jane snapped out of the momentarily brain freeze she seemed to have while trying to understand this woman, snapping her unladylike gaping mouth shut…This woman had actually managed to capture her attention quite effortlessly even though Jane was only a few blinks away from passing out on the table. She couldn't help but find that quite disturbing. It wasn't like she was actually paying attention to Philaminte and her grammar freakishness and how Les Femmes Savantes... oh wait. She actually had been. How? _Why_?

"Janie!" A toothy grin and what Jane thought of as a girly laugh was quickly interrupted by her own "No!"

If Maura had ever seen Home Alone, which, Jane doubted very much from her lack of English culture knowledge, she would have pointed to Jane's face and commented on the similarities between it and Macaulay Culkin's face the second Frankie stepped into the coffee place.

"What's up sis?" Frankie was a lot of things, but street-smart was unfortunately not one of them. One time Jane had made a labyrinth in the garden from garbage bags and other handy things she had found in the shed put variable breakable things over the tarp and dared Frankie to get to the other side where she was standing as quickly as possible without destroying anything. It took him 38 minutes. He could have just walked around. Jane would have found a little bit more enjoyment in her brother's despair if this had been when they were kids and not last year having promised their Ma to help clean the garden. So, being Frankie, instead of noticing her prostitute persona, he simply looked at her like she had been submerged in late Aunt Mary's closet and hauled back up again.

Jane jumped up and frantically tried to get Frankie on the same page, via 'blood-related brain wavelength similarity,' only she was pretty sure that was all made up: "Oh hello mister, I think you might be confused. Out of your mind. As I'm clearly not this Jane woman." The last part was barely a growl as Jane's jaw was so closed so tightly, her teeth grinding together in frustration. She'd be lucky if she could ever pry her mouth open again.

"Jane come on, I was just looking for you. Crowe said he saw you walking in here about 20 minutes ago, I was just gonna remind you that you better have your butt by the dinner table at five sharp or you'll never taste a homemade cannoli again. Ma's words, not mine." Clearly, to no avail. _Screw you Dr. Phil._ Oh, wait, maybe it was between identical twins.

Before Jane realized what she was doing she had already managed to blurt, "Wait, that was tonight? I thought it was Tuesday!"

Oh she was in deep shit now. Way to go Jane, please do break out your true identity because your mother is threatening you with a lifetime of no cannoli. You're pathetic. And a little hungry.

"Janie, it IS Tuesday. Boy have those guy's been working you hard. So tightly stringed you can't even tell what day it is? You sure you're ok? You kinda look like crap." Frankie was working Parole first year, and knew how things ran the further up in rank you went. When you worked vice your ass was on the line every day, every night. When you were female, even more so. He just hoped the guys had enough decency to let her have a day off every now and then… time to recuperate, cause he knew she would never ask for it herself. Even if he'd never admit it, out loud at least, unless it was Thanksgiving or some other mushy celebration, it worried him to see his sister looking this beat and that she was too important to him to be going out on the deep end just to prove herself.

Maura's eyes had widened by the shared information that was passed between the siblings. For a hooker and a brother they sure shared a lot of personal information about the woman's nightly work. If Maura ever had a sibling, she was sure she'd be a little bit more careful about what was shared. To tell your brother what you do at night with some man beneath the sheets… Well, she supposed it only spoke volumes about what kind of relationship they had. One thing baffled her though.

"Tiffany?"

Her concentration lacking way too much to save her, Jane was too caught up in trying to decipher what Frankie was trying to mouth her to realize the woman was addressing her.

"Er Jane, she's looking at you." Frankie however had just magically floated down from a rainbow guided by a unicorn to see the most lovely creature at the end of said rainbow sitting at the table his sister had just occupied. Or some scenario similar to that in his head that connected this woman to real life at least, because damn, she had to be a dream.

"You're not gonna introduce me to your friend over here?"

"Nope. Cause you're gonna go. Now."

_Older sister face who will destroy your action figures if you don't do as I say: on._

Frankie knew when a battle was lost, however he did manage to sneak another glance at the gorgeous woman who was somehow sitting with his sister.

"You're no fun, you know that right? Luckily I still love you, so I'll be saving some beer for you whenever you do make it home."

He slunk away like a dog with a tail between its legs and Jane sat back down stiffly in her chair.

"Now, where were we?"

"I think you were about to tell me why you told me your name was Tiffany when in fact it's Jane."

"No, I don't think that was it. How about we discuss why you would ask a stranger, a night worker no less, out for a cup of coffee and spend 500 dollar on someone who clearly won't tell you something you won't figure out easier somewhere else?" Jane knew how to turn a phrase.

"Fine. It's quite simple really. I was just done with a case, and was on my way out for lunch, ran into you. You looked like you needed someone to give you a coffee."

"Still doesn't explain the 500 dollars."

"So now it's a crime to do something nice for a stranger?"

"No, but handing someone 500 dollars isn't considered an act of kindness, more like a bribe".

"A bribe for what?"

"I haven't figured that one out yet."

"You don't think you're being a little cynical?"

"No, I'm being realistic. People always want something in return."

"Well I don't." She really didn't. Maura thought a little about that fact. Why was she so desperate that she would offer a stranger money so that she could take her out for a coffee? She had never done it before, and never had she had the urge to confront people into conversation. Maura gave a little sigh thinking about her last phone call with her therapist. She supposed something he said had actually struck a chord. "_Maura, you never socialize outside work, no one will come to your rescue and show you the things you're missing out on if you don't put yourself out there. Spending time with your turtle on a Saturday night is not the way to live your life. Do me a favor will you? Live a little. Take a few risks and you'll see that there's more to life than work and commitments."_ They hadn't talked in years, but when Dr. Roberts had replied to an email she had sent about a patient's history their back and forth emailing had eventually lead him to questions about her personal life and how far she had come in working on herself. Unfortunately he wasn't too ecstatic about her progress.

"Jane?"

_What is with everyone trying to break my cover today?! _Jane realized it was mostly her own fault for coming into a place she frequented on most days when she needed coffee that was actually warm and not the grimy water they pretended was coffee at the precinct. Of course the barista was on first name basis with her.

Marlene had actually managed to keep a straight face for the most part of Jane's visit in the café, and figured she probably shouldn't butt in as she knew Jane was working undercover a lot lately, however she knew not to annoy Cavanaugh. When he called, it was pretty important to get him the person he asks for.

"It's for you." The barista carefully handed the phone over to Jane all the while eying her outfit with a raised eyebrow. Normally Jane wouldn't have thought twice about it as she was indeed wearing the worst possible outfit known to mankind, however, it wasn't disgust that filled the young woman with a devilish glare, she was quite bluntly checking her out.

"Yes?" Jane caught herself coughing and reminding herself to not answer the phone with her usual "Rizzoli", as she really didn't want to ever see the woman next to her again.

"Rizzoli, where the hell are you? The only reason I was able to reach you was because someone saw you leave the street and head into the café. Next time give me a fucking clue, alright?!"

"I'm sorry, Sir, it won't happen again." Somehow telling Sergeant Cavanaugh about her need for coffee seemed like a very bad idea at the moment. Maybe if he didn't have 24 hour access to the liquid himself behind his supersized desk he'd be more understanding.

Sir. She calls her boss Sir, Maura mused….

"Forget about it, listen, I need you down at the dock asap. Shit's about to hit the fan. Our people of interest were seen down by loading dock 16 no less than five minutes ago. I need eyes on the site. How fast can you get there?"

Finally, a break in this godforsaken case! "Ten minutes, not a second longer." Jane quickly handed back the phone to a grinning Marlene. By no reason Jane could think of, the redhead's hands lingered on her own for what seemed like a millennium before she was able to kindly shake her off.

"I'm sorry Ma'am. Duty calls. Thank you for the coffee. We should do this again sometime." There, way to be polite about it. Over my dead body this is happening again, Jane thought to herself as she addressed Maura while scurrying to her feet and heading for the door.

"I'm sorry you have to leave so abruptly, do you need a ride to wherever you need to be?" Maura managed to hide her genuine fear of being left alone in a crowd, converting it to courtesy. However she really _really _hated being alone in crowded places.

"That is awfully kind to offer for someone who still hasn't taken off their latex gloved hands, don't you think?" Fine, so maybe she wasn't too eager to please this strange woman, but apparently she wasn't a true Bostonian in the way she talked, so really, she was doing her a favor in teaching her how rude people could be under pressured circumstances. Not that she knew this was one of them.

"I'm really sorry if I've offended you, I should have probably told you the reason behind…my glov-" Her explanation had been futile. Before she'd had time to finish the sentence, the lanky form of the prostitute had already made her way out the door and across the street to a navy blue car. Maura quickly put a couple of bills on the table and hurried after.

Maura couldn't help but give a little smile when she saw the Italian frantically wave her hands in frustration. Oh yes, even if it had never come up in their brief conversation, it was clear the woman was of Italian heritage, something's just couldn't be hidden between layers of rouge. She watched the brunette bend down to look under the car, clenching and unclenching her fists angrily as if something was missing. As if something was keeping her from leaving.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Jane had left her car outside the precinct three days before, and her keys had been under the front tire, as, of course, hookers aren't supposed to know how to drive a bloody vehicle. No keys there.

"Fine. Have it your way," Jane glowered to herself, knowing she was back in range of the surveillance van, which also meant she was back in range with her microphone. She was almost positive she heard laughter coming from the van as she stormed off to the closest retail store in sight, a block from the precinct, demanding to be given a hanger, and stormed back to her car.

"Excuse me, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that!" Maura was in shock. Never had she encountered a robbery in broad daylight or any other kind of light when she thought about it. "Are you out of your mind? You're two steps away from Boston Police Department and you're attempting to steal a car?!"

Why. Just WHY did this woman try to make her life into a living hell with merely her presence? She so didn't have time for this right now.

"Yes, I am aware of that. However, if I can just get into this car, that probably belongs to a nun, or a priest, I can get the hell out of here before I get in trouble. Alright? So just walk away."

Jane realized how it must have looked. She really did, but watching the honey blonde gasp and clutch her heart in shock sort of made up for the fact that she had to use a coat hanger to get into her own car.

"I will do no such thing! I'm calling the police right now!" It was clear this woman was at a very bad place in her life and Maura was not about to watch her dig her grave any deeper by committing a crime she didn't have to commit. She would drive her to wherever she needed to be. Legally.

Maura flicked open her phone and dialed the precinct, however before it even rang once a hand clapped her phone shut and she found herself staring straight into a pool of dark brown.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jane could smell the shorter woman's perfume and realized she probably managed to smudge her perfect façade with her mere hand on her phone.

"Look," Jane opened the driver's side, "if you want to call it in, at least let me get to the docks first. From there on, you can do whatever the hell you want. It's a ten minute drive, but I'm leaving now. Are you in or are you out?"

"In." Maura stormed to the passenger side, mindful of giving Tiffany Jane a glare while doing so, just so she would know how upset she was about the whole situation. One should know better than to mess with the law, and if this Jane or Tiffany didn't think she was going to do the right thing, then so be it. She'd show her.

She flipped out her phone again, this time she held it so far out of reach there was no threat of someone slapping it shut again before she was able to make her call. Jane just rolled her eyes. "I would like to report a stolen vehicle." Jane couldn't help but chuckle. Oh, she was so going to enjoy this.

"Yes, I'll hold."

"I'm telling you, you're making a mistake." Jane didn't know where it came from, but she found herself saying it in a sing-song voice which she really hadn't done since she was 10, bugging her brothers whenever they were finally to blame for something.

"Hello yes, I would like to report a stolen vehicle. Also, I'm pretty sure I've been kidnapped, but as long as you trace the car I should be able to get myself out of this situation. The number on the license plate is 964 you."

Jane rolled into the docks, scrambled out of the car and made her known to the officer on site.

"Excuse me, you can't just leave! The police will be here any minute."

"Rizzoli, Vice, victor 2-5", Jane identified herself to the officer on site while observing the commotion of people a little further in.

"Just go right in there, Cavanaugh is already on site." Jane thanked Collins and headed down to the loading dock where all the international boats were docked.

Maura quickly checked her phone. She had one missed call from Cavanaugh that she hadn't seen in her urgency to call in the plates. She redialed and got through on the second ring.

"Dr. Isles, I need you down on the docks, we've had a break in our case and there's a body we need help identifying."

"I'm actually there right now, but I don't have my gear with me. Give me a minute to get everything I need form the techs, and I'll be there. Which dock?"

"International. 16."

….

Jane was just about to make her appearance known to Cavanaugh when she realized the woman from the café was following her. "What the hell are you doing here? This is a crime scene; we can't have civilians on site! Get out of here before you cause me any more trouble." Maura prided herself with being a very patient person, but for some reason there was just no pleasing this woman, pun unintended, as she clearly didn't appreciate anyone who tried to help her stay on track.

"Excuse me?! You know, for a night worker you attitude is quite frankly very unappealing."

"See, people don't even have to know you to realize what a bitch you are," Crowe chuckled.

Oh how Jane wished someone would discover a secret virus and slip it to Crowe so he would become magically mute and not come with useless comments about every single thing that came to his undeveloped mind.

"Shut up Crowe."

"You know Officer Crowe?" Maura wasn't sure she wanted to know the connection between them. She had already seen one rule being broken today, she really didn't need another reason to know she was working on the right and clean side of the law.

"Yeah, Crowe here is one of my stalkers. One night with him and I didn't want to hurt his feeling telling him there's no way his part" here Jane made her index finger and thumb almost connect, measuring a size, "and my parts were ever going to touch. Since then he's been a pain in my ass." There, she's your problem now.

"Crowe!"

"Oh dream on Rizzoli," Jane caught his eyes, shooting daggers at him for revealing her name to the woman, "one night with me and you'd never walk straight again."

Slow on lack of sleep and coffee it took Jane a second to catch up. "Wait, how do _you_ know Crowe?" she asked, stopping dead in her tracks and spinning clumsily to face the woman.

Maura was about to reply when Cavanaugh stalked over, wanting to know the reason his medical examiner and two of his officers didn't get their asses where he needed them to be.

"Dr. Isles, there you are. Come on, he's down here. Rizzoli, go get Korsak and he'll fill you in."

"Wait, Dr. Isles?" You just _had_ to assume she was a lawyer, huh?

"Officer Rizzoli?" Maura was perplexed, why hadn't she made the connection before now?

"What's wrong? You guys know each other?" Cavanaugh stood in the middle of the two women looking between them getting nothing but confused looks in return.


	3. What you've done to me

_A/N: *hangs head in shame* yes. I am this late. And the chapter is in this state. I am so horribly sorry for whatever you're about to read. You see, I had this brilliant thought that I would be able to you know… have a strange attic in my brain with spiral staircases leading to cool places where plot bunnies appeared if you sneezed and a hidden talent to upload like 16 times a day, but strangely enough that is so not the case? So I hereby give you all my sincerest apologies for being a bore. Another thing; Thank you all for your lovely reviews- I know how to reply to them now, so from now on! I found the button! You shall get replies like a boss. Last thing: Not very much happens in this chapter, its more of a build up. However! I really want to get your input to what you want to see happen in this little tale, because my inspiration sort of had an incident and can't fully function without some serious help. Alright, I'm going to shut up now and let you continue reading where we left off! You guys are pretty awesome, did you know that?  
_

"Alright, whatever it is, suspects are running free, and rigor mortis is setting in, so go do what you're paid to do."

"Of course, Sir." Jane gritted her teeth and left without another glance in the Medical Examiners direction.

"Absolutely, Sir." Not one to be outdone, Maura simply glanced over at Jane's now retreating form and followed suit.

Jane made it over to Korsak trying to figure out why the hell she hadn't even entertained the idea that the woman would be more involved in BPD than she assumed, not to mention she had made a complete fool out of herself just by assuming she was a lawyer. "What do we got?"

"According to the victims license; Thomas Ericsson." Korsak. The one person she could count on and would always have her back. He was a senior Detective and had taken Jane under his wing even though they were in different departments. He knew her better than anyone else at the BPD without having to break into her personal file.

"Half his face is blown off, how can you be sure?"

Even if her, "You can't," was delivered with somewhat of an attitude, Maura didn't feel too bad putting them in their place. These people always wanted to jump to conclusions if it meant they would get less face time with her.

"Oh, hello Dr. Isles." As Korsak was mouthing "Dr. Death" to her Jane finally got it. She wasn't completely to blame for not knowing who the good Doctor was. She had not once heard her given name been spoken out loud.

"Korsak." Maura greeted the detective with a nod, finally making eye contact with one Jane Rizzoli, meeting stormy brown clouded with confusion and anger.

"Alright Doc, what can you tell us?"

"Well, as good portions of his body are still intact, I can safely determine that we are in fact gazing upon a male. Mid to late forties."

"Well that was much was pretty clear from the penis stuck between his legs!" Word vomit. Jane didn't even feel sorry.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, would you like to take over this examination? Please be my guest." Maura straightened up and turned to face the offending party. Thankfully her heels made her seem less like a shrimp compared to the brunette who's legs just seemed to go on forever. "Just show me your medical examiner license and I'll be out of your hair." Maura made a number out of sounding superior, and Jane was instantly transported back to the fourth grade when her snobby teacher had tried explaining the 'wonders of algebra' to her.

"No? Oh wait, that's right, you don't have one. Do you? Let me see. If you graduated from high school at 18, unless that is, you were held back a year for your poor attitude," Jane's fists clenched together harder than her jaw. "…went to the Academy for six to eight months, which could put you at 19," Maura really was making this into a big deal without even realizing her flaw, "then your rookie time took you to where you are now, working Vice I presume based on your… outfit, that probably took you about 4 years, right? I'll put your age between 24 and 30, although based on your unhealthy diet and lack of a proper sleeping pattern that comes with the job, I would subtract a 4 years from 30, which would make you 26." It wasn't a question. " Well, by all means, if you managed do that and the same time go to college for four years, drag yourself to four years of medical school and a four year residence program in Pathology and a one year fellowship program in Forensic Medicine and then condense that from 13 years to eight years, then I'm not needed here, now am I? Do you have a pair of latex gloves, or do you need some of mine?"

She was met with complete silence. A pin could drop and a micro particle could jump around on said particle with a sombrero shaking his nonexistent behind to club music and no one would take notice. All eyes were glued to the two women standing beside a mutilated human body, eying each other like two inmates fighting over the best seat in the courtyard.

She really hadn't meant for any of that to come out. Maura really didn't know why the look she got from the Officer actually affected her. After all, she was just like all the others. _"Doctor Death…" Original. _

"Gayzzoli just got served!" One to never know when to keep his big mouth shut, A "Shut up Crowe!" came in unison from everyone present.

"Dr. Isles, can you tell us cause of death?" Cavanaugh had been momentarily stunned into silence from the medical examiners outburst, what had just happened had definitely been a first. Not once had he seen the good doctor actually take offence or engage with his uniforms outside the confides of the morgue.

Being a man of many talents and divorces, Korsak knew when someone had screwed up majorly, so as quietly as the big bear could he whispered to his protégé a word of advice; "Whatever the hell you did to piss her off you better make it right." Years of experience had taught him not to get on people's bad side if you ever wanted a report back before the end of the next ice age.

"Right…" This was one battle Jane Rizzoli might not come out on the winning side of.

"I can't confirm anything at the moment; I'll have my full report on your desk as soon as I've done preliminary work on the body."

"Rizzoli, go home, get some sleep. Crowe, get your ass back to the precinct and start running names—anyone associated with this guy that works on the docks, try and see if you can find a connection. Korsak," Cavanaugh looked up from the body and locked eyes on the Detective—there was a silent agreement between them. They both knew Korsak knew how to do his job.

"What? Sir, I'm already here, I'm up, I'm awake! Let me help Crowe run the names, that way you know there won't be any screw ups."

"Go home, Rizzoli. That's an order."

Reluctantly Jane dragged her bony ass over to her car only to find it being inspected by a couple of rookie traffic officers.

"Oh for heaven's sake! What?!"

"Rizzoli, this car belongs to you, correct?"

"Why do you make it sound like a question? It's your job to know! I take it you already run my registration plate against the VIN number, which led you to the information that this is indeed my car. What do you want?"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we'll have to take you down town." At this point Jane was actually laughing. Shock from finding out her female pimp was the medical examiner, lack of sleep, sheer joy of seeing a seagull poop at Crowe's car, it really could be anything.

"Oh, you have to take me down town. Alright," Oh if only her mother had been there to tell her how unladylike the snorts coming out of her nose were "I'll just come with you down town then!"

"Thank you ma'am." One of the young parole officers actually looked relieved that she would go this easily. Somehow she came across as a little hysterical. Fitting for a laughing hooker about to be dragged in he mused.

"Can I just ask you what this is about?" Oh boy, they actually thought she'd collect her stilettos and just walk nicely with them.

"We believe this car was just involved in kidnapping, and" The other officer not trying to explain the situation to her looked up with surprise on his face "You kidnapped the medical examiner?!"

"Oh wouldn't that be serving the greater good." It slipped out. Barely, on a whisper. She had to get this situation under control.

"Crowe!"

The young officer, the one with the most pristinely pressed uniform really should learn how to keep his mouth shut. "Why does Officer Crowe seem to know every low life in this town?" Jane's head snapped to the little devil and glared him down, "you know what, I'm gonna pretend you did not just say that, and for the record if I ever get word that you're parading around this town showing that little respect again I'll make sure you'll stay very far from any promotion you'll ever think to name in your life." Alright, so maybe she didn't have that power, but she could possibly get a word in with Korsak or Cavanaugh if she put on a smile one of these days. Not this week maybe as she was pretty much in more trouble than she usually deemed good for herself, but some day in the not too distant future. She took a deep breath to see if her words had sunk in. They hadn't.

"You wanna know what's gonna happen three seconds from now?" Oh, she was so tempted to go downtown with these guys and say hello to Sergeant Thomas when they dragged her into the interrogation room. Maybe then she'd finally remember to tell him baseball practice was this Friday, not Saturday like the week before. Yes, she would gloat and watch their eyeballs pop out in cartoon fashion when she hit them both with her badge in their foreheads. The imprint would linger for days and weeks, maybe even years if she really set her heart to it.

"Hey Taylor, what's going on with her, is she high or something? She just spaced out." _Alright Rizzoli, maybe not the time for inner monologue, now where was I? _

"First of all, if you call me ma'am one more time…." She didn't feel like the sentence needed an ending, it was pretty clear what would happen. "Secondly, if you know what's best for you, you turn around, walk… walk a little more, all the way over to that brick wall you see there," To either let her believe she had the upper hand, or to their combined stupidity, they actually followed her eyesight to the wall, "then stop. Then, and this is very important, you following?" Two simultaneously nods. She really needed to have a word with whoever was in charge of recruiting. "Alright, you stop there. And then you, with as much force as you can- bang your heads in until you get room for some sense in there!"

"That's it. We're taking you in." Dumb and dumber was about to make an attempt at their first arrest when Dr. Maura Isles walked past them. She took one glance at the situation and continued walking. If Jane had known Maura a little better, or even a smudge, she'd known that the woman was stifling her laughter as she saw some justice finally being done. After all, karma's a bitch.

"Oh would you look at that. Isn't that the person who you're trying to pin a kidnapping on me for? She might have an attitude and reek of death, but does she look much kidnapped to you?" Oh fuck. So, she said it aloud, she had meant it, two milliseconds ago at least, but as she saw the familiar display of pain of someone who had just had their feelings hurt she almost wish she hadn't.

"Rizzoli, what are you still doing here, I told you to get home!"

"I was on my way, Sir, I promise, however Dumb and Dumber here has a problem with that."

Sean Cavanaugh let out a long breath. "Who are you?" Why was it that whenever there was a crime scene every parole officer within a mile radius thought they'd swing by and make an arrest to show how great of a detective they would be?

"Parole Officer Watson, Sir!" Jane rolled her eyes, this one had seen too many movies and actually made a "at you attention" gesture. "Parole Officer Jenkins, Sir!" Oh this just kept getting worse by the minute.

"Alright, alright. Do you know who this is?" He gestured to Jane. Two confused heads tried to make one clear- not today.

"This is Officer Rizzoli, one of Boston's finest. She's in the becoming of making first female detective one day soon, and youngest at that, "Jane almost fell to the ground. She knew she had some chops, but this… "Are you really sure you're trying to arrest one of my Officers?"

"It's a trick question Watson, he's just feeling us out."

"No shit, Sherlock," Jane really had to go see a doctor about this word vomit soon.

Jane grimaced and quickly tossed in a "Sorry, Sir," for good measure.

"Jane, go home. I'll deal with these, and remind me to ask you how you got yourself into this situation when things have settled down a bit."

She really couldn't help but grin, everyone else saw Cavanaugh as a tough as nails boss, but to her… We'll, if she had to guess, they probably just spoke the same language. "I will Sir, thank you."

Dr. Maura Isles had to be rational about this. How was it possible for one single woman to get under her skin in a way no one had ever managed before? What did it remind her of? Oh, yes, some movie that had been playing on the on flight entertainment system one year she had been flying to Austria to meet her parents for Christmas. She had dozed off several times, but the nice stewardess had kept her alert whenever she was making another round of servings, so a seven year old Maura had managed to keep track of the two horrible sisters who were always in each other's throats. The Parent Trap! That was the movie, Susan and Sharon. She had been baffled when their housekeeper's daughter who were a couple of years older than Maura, had told her that the twins were in fact played by the same girl. In the end though, they had put their differences aside and realized they were in fact sisters, not only by blood but by heart.

Although Maura was adopted, she concluded with fact that there was no way Jane Rizzoli and herself was ever related, thus there was no magical bond between them to spur them into finding some common ground and understanding.

"How's it going over there, Doc?" Maura almost dropped her scalpel in surprise. No one ever came down to the morgue unless their heart had stopped beating from a knife plunged into it and there was no way around ending up on one of her steel tables.

"Detective Korsak," She made a mental note to keep her voice from going high pitched in excitement that there was actually someone who had figured out that the building indeed held a basement and didn't start at ground level where the cafeteria was located, "what can I do for you?"

"Er, well," sweaty palms, nostrils palpitated, over all tremulous body movement all the while still being able to snack on a bacon sandwich- Detective Korsak appeared to be nervous? "I was just wondering if you could tell me anything about the victim yet."

"Of course," Maura made a mental note to ask him about his diet if they ever became close enough for her to do so without appearing completely mental, he was definitely in the danger zone of a heart attack if he didn't start taking care of his body soon, " Male, late thirties to early forties, screens show he was diabetic," Alright, hives be damned, she couldn't confirm the victim was indeed diabetic as of right now, although she had seen indicators in his blood levels. Maura made a little pause to see if it would stir some reaction from the Detective, when she received absolutely no indication that he was remotely into the idea that this might apply to him she continued, "based on these indentations right here, heavy sharp blunt force trauma indicates that the tissue, muscle and viscera have been ripped from his bones."

"Wait, so someone scratched his face off?"

"Yes. I'm sorry to say that Officer Rizzoli was incorrect with her theory that his face was simply blown off."

"Ouch. I don't care how bad of a guy this is, if he was still alive at the point of where the scratching occurred… "

"I can neither deny nor confirm that yet. I will send you my full report as soon as I have something new to tell you. Is there anything else you wanted?"

Wow, so that's how it felt going back in time. The last time Korsak had felt as dismissed had been when Sister Mary had told him to get in the back during mandatory singing in their preschool choir. So maybe he didn't have the voice of an angel, but he sure knew how to dance like the devil.

"Was there anything else?"

That was the second time she had asked wasn't it?

"Er, yes. No, yes. No."

"Well which is it, it's either "Yes", as in you have something to tell me or "No, that would be all."

"This isn't really my place, but you should know that Officer Rizzoli barks more than she bites."

"Officer Rizzoli… bites people?"

"What?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"You just said…" Literal. Her teachers had always told her she took things too literally. Maybe this was one of those instances. She sure hoped so. It didn't really bode well for the community of Boston if it was discovered that the protectors of the city was walking around defending their safety with saliva infused attacks.

"What I meant is, Jane has been through a lot lately with the case and if you knew her you'd know she's like a pit-bull if she doesn't get enough sleep or caffeine, so I just figured since you've not worked with her before that you shouldn't take offence from one bad encounter. She's really not as bad as she looks." Was he talking about the fishnet stockings? Maura mused; even if they'd never encounter each other again she hoped someone would take mercy on the woman's closet, fire extinguisher at the ready hopefully. It should be considered a crime dressing that body up in anything but couture. Korsak moved uneasily in the morgue. Not because of the chilled room temperature, but more because it looked like the Medical Examiner was deep in thought, and he had just stepped up for Rizzoli. If she knew… he'd be stretched out on gurney number four from the left, boot print in his forehead and a note that said _"I'm lying here because I couldn't mind my own damn business- I watch "Dancing with the stars" religiously (and I quickly switch to baseball if anyone ambushes me and I blame 'a bad foul' in whatever game I'm watching- to explain the tears that appears whenever I see a beautiful waltz. P.S.— I only have one testicle."_

The addendum was if Jane found out before she'd had coffee tomorrow morning. Safe to say, she could never know.

"I'm sorry Detective Korsak. I know we haven't worked a lot together, and I realize that you don't know me very well, which is why I'm going to inform you now, that if you ever try to make excuses for someone who can't see it fit to do so in person, it simply doesn't build character for the person in question. So although I appreciate the effort, and I do, I think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done to me in this department. Thank you, and know I have more respect for you, but no thank you, I'd very much like to determine Jane's character for myself." Maura finished with a smile.

Korsak couldn't help but smile when Maura had finished. Never had he met someone who could actually be polite about not accepting an apology, and never the less still make him feel somewhat comfortable with the stupid idea he had just carried out. " You know, she would have my balls for this."

A full dimpled smile and Maura couldn't help herself; "I'm sure you appreciate full function of your testicles, so maybe we should just refrain from telling Officer Rizzoli about this encounter and let things just unfold the way they were meant to."

"You're making her work for it. I like it." As she had no idea what she was making work Maura simply smiled and leaned down to the body spread before her, a mutual goodbye spoken with their shared smile.

Doctor Death might be a lot of things, but until you got some one-on-one time with her, one should refrain from thinking her to be stone cold bitch. At least that's what Korsak concluded as he made his way up from the morgue in the elevator.

_A/N: See, told you, nothing really happened, just a little 'lets get to know these characters a wee bit more before we go all Texas on their lives!' Thank you for reading, I appreciate you guys like the tidal appreciates the moon and gravitational forces, which is a lot. Let me know what you want to see happen between these two little rascals, alright? _


	4. Same mistakes

**A/N at the bottom!  
**  
Jane had to admit, whenever she was alone, she felt unintentionally crazy.

If an unknown passerby walked by her door there was a very good chance they would think she was housing multiple parties at once in her one bedroom apartment. For some unknown reason Jane liked to entertain herself when she was in her own company. Never was there more shouting or hollering, and not to forget the most important one; commenting, when she was alone with her television. "Oh come on! I could have _mimed_ a better shark than that! Oh run in the water will you, cause that _always_ work!" She rolled her eyes and settled down on the couch again only to jump up on her knees when she saw, "Really?! A _stick_ against a white shark? You, idiot" pointing at the television when no one would notice wasn't completely satisfactory, but it gave her some sort of inner peace, "almost deserve to die." Ringing, did they change up the soundtrack to the movie? _Its your_ _phone you idiot. _Where had she put it…"Yeah? I mean, Rizzoli." _Nice._

"Oh don't worry sweetie, I still remember both your names."  
"Ma, can it wait? I'm in the middle of-"  
"You're watching 'Jaws- the revenge'" Jane could almost hear the sound of her mother's eyes rolling. _How did she know?_  
"I can hear you almost across town-"she made her voice high and pitchy- _'ah, I could have mimed a better shark than that'_ Jane scanned the room, but her mother was not hidden behind her couch and she didn't have the energy to look elsewhere. It still scared her how well her mother knew her, and made her think just a little how it might not be completely healthy to be so passionate about those damn cardboard cutout sharks. "Jane, stop scanning the room," yes, it was definitely scary, "I saw it was on reading the newspaper this morning, which is why I'm calling you now."

She was listening; really, she just wasn't very good at multitasking. "Bowsa! Hello big white!"  
"Jane, are you even listening?" "What? Yeah, sorry, those big shoulder pillows just kinda soaked up my attention there for a sec. What's up Ma?"

"Jane, it just turned to commercial, can you please give your old mother one second of your undivided attention?"  
28 years of experience told Jane it wasn't so much a question as it was an order.

"There, it's even on mute, happy?" Again with the rolling of the eyes. "Ecstatic."

"Now listen to me, I just talked to Frankie, and-""Whatever he said, I didn't do it. On purpose anyways."

"Jane, did I not just tell you to listen? Shut up and stop interrupting. Now, Frankie told me you've been out working the streets for days without sleep and proper nutrition, so I want to know what on earth you're still doing up? I'll have you know I'm about to call Mr. Schneider and have him turn off the power to your apartment if you don't shut off the TV and go to bed right away."

Only her mother would take the time to get to know her building manager so she could use it against her at some point.

"You don't think you're being a little overdramatic?"

"Ha! I'll show you dramatic. Its either this or I'm coming over there to tuck you in myself, but since you threatened me with your gun the last time", it was once, and Jane would never hear the end of it, "I'm keeping it as my last resort. For now."

"Ma."  
"Sweetie." Jane sighted. "What Ma?"  
"What's bothering you, what's keeping you awake?"  
"It's still morning for god's sake! Normal people are out buying dinner or getting home from work, its not weird that I'm not asleep, just because I got off work early doesn't mean-"  
"Janie…"

Damn it. No matter how old she got and how much resistance she had tried to build up, it was like a force of nature, when her Ma used that voice on her…

"I," there was a moment of silence, she really didn't want to get into this with her mother, but on the other hand the guilt was gnawing on her enough to keep her entertained with a movie from 1987. "I did something today that I shouldn't have done."

"What sweetie, you know you can tell me anything." Another big sigh. "I kinda snapped on someone that I shouldn't have and that person really didn't deserve it, but I was just so embarrassed for making such a rookie mistake and just _assuming_ instead of **knowing**, and now I don't even know why it's bugging me. I mean if it was any other person I wouldn't even give it a second thought, but this time, I just, I felt bad you know?" The uncharacteristic rambling told Angela two things, one; her baby girl was exhausted and two, whoever had been on the receiving end of hurricane Rizzoli should either be given a shoulder to cry on or have an island named after them for surviving.

"Alright, do you think you can fix it?"  
"I don't know. I really don't know…"  
"That's ok sweetie, here's what you're going to do, you go tuck yourself in and tomorrow everything will look brighter."  
"Don't worry, I will," let's face it, she already knew the ending, and she was exhausted, "thanks, Ma."  
"You're welcome sweetie, but you know, it would have been even better getting tucked in by a tall handsome man-"A moment of St. Mother and then…  
"Ma!"  
"Sleep well, honey. Love you."

* * *

The afternoon had been more or less uneventful for the Medical Examiner. She had processed two bodies to the best of her abilities, passed on her findings to the detectives working the case, and had not yet fallen for the temptation to buy anything shoe related online. One pair of leather gloves hardly counted. Maura was just about to leave her final notes to Senior Criminologist Chang when a blur of marine blue wool stopped her mid turn. "I'm really sorry to just burst in here, but there's been another body, the detectives are leaving now if you'd like to catch a ride."

There was no way Maura was going to go through an entire ride with some officers who heard about her little encounter with a certain Officer Rizzoli earlier that day. "That's alright, I'll be right behind, I just have to get my kit. Can you get dispatch to text me the address?" Susie was already back by her side with the kit in question and Maura found herself smiling just a little. Maura found she appreciated Susie the more they worked together. Susie was the only person in the entire department who had yet to make her feel horrible uncomfortable in what was supposed to be her own element. She was efficient, thorough and didn't make snide remarks about the most mundane things like everyone else felt the need to whenever there was an exposed body on their table.

* * *

"Rizzoli, I'm sorry to I have to do this, I know I gave you an order to go home and get some rest, but I need you out and about now. There's been another murder and we suspect it has everything to do with the guy we found this morning. A car will be at your apartment in seven minutes, you better go splash some water in your face."

It had been three hours of pure bliss with her head on the pillow. She hadn't even made it as far as getting her body to bed after hanging up with her mother, or, to her despair, get out of her hooker get up. One still stiletto clad foot was tossed casually over the back of the couch, the other one somewhere under her, which really made getting up a funny case as it was more asleep than half her brain at the moment. A crash later, some carefully placed curse words and she was standing in the bathroom. There really was no good way to describe what greeted her in the mirror. If Jane had picked up the top 10 worst mug shots in the world, scrambled them together to look like a Picasso, the final result would still look a whole lot better than her own reflection wearing her face but looking nothing like her. Mascara was smudged from under her eyes and down to her check, the rouge she had applied some days before was nowhere to be found other than a little dot at the very tip of her nose, her hair seriously needed a good wash and her eyes looked like she'd been on a bender for good parts of her life. If it had stopped there she might have been able to live with it, but no such luck. Her skirt had been caught in her doorknob the second she tried to make her appearance known to her apartment, and the jacket she had been wearing over her skimpy shirt got an unfair match with a ketchup bottle that had been used as a sliver of hope to get something she found in the back of her fridge to actually taste something. If she had met herself on the street she would have paid herself to get a shower. On the upside, she didn't smell. Other than the cheap perfume she had sprayed all over herself like a blanket of terror, the more frightening terror right now, was how it was still lingering to her skin so many days later since being applied. One buzz from her phone and she knew she was screwed.

* * *

Korsak took in her appearance with a chuckle. "I don't know any delicate way to say this Janie, but you look like shit." One glare managed to make its presence known despite the tangle of mascara it was trying to break free from.

"Thank you. Your car smells like dog poop." Wow, if that was the best insult she could come up with she really was in worse state than she had let herself believe.

"Remind me to make sure you get some time off when this case has blown over. I think there are a hairdresser and an exorcist awaiting you, whatever needs to be done to return to the land of the living."

Since Jane couldn't exactly disagree about the state she was in, she just rolled her eyes and made Korsak explain why she had been summoned from the dead.

* * *

Jane made a face and slouched down on the passenger side to try and get herself out of view. "Oh hell, why didn't you tell me she was gonna be here?" Jane had just seen the Medical Examiner and her kit making their way down to the path where a small crowd was forming around their second victim for the day. She knew she had to try and fix the whole situation she had manage to put them in, she just didn't have the energy to do it so soon. Korsak only gave her a knowing face, "As she's our Medical Examiner you should be thankful she is." There was a time and a day for him to chastise Jane about being nice to people she didn't like, but on next to no sleep and coffee he didn't even see a point trying.

"Oh god, who wear things like that to a crime scene? It's not like Vogue has sneak photographers lurking in the bushes of a crime scene to make a street fashion report!" Korsak raised one eyebrow which was enough to get his point across; "A little touchy there, huh? We can't all pull of fishnet stockings."

One step out of the car and then that mouth…"Oy there Rizzoli, thought you'd try the streets for some extra cash before changing?"

"The first moment we're not working this case and I'm not slowed down by restrictive clothing I'm going to kick your ass from here to Bacon Hill and make you cry for your mother. Then I'm going to video tape it, put it on YouTube and name it _'Watch how a former officer gets his nuts crushed and will never have children'_, now, if you'll excuse me I want to get this over with so I can start thinking about what special effects I'm gonna use on the audio, right now I'm leading towards a very high pitched girly voiceover."

"Challenge accepted." Crowe really wasn't on the shortlist for genius of the week.

However she found she appreciated her boss more and more as she got to work with him. "Body is down there Rizzoli, think you can get there in those?" Cavanaugh was pointing down the mucky hill that disguised itself as a ravine. See, now that was an appropriate way to address her outfit, there were no snide remarks or barely hidden grins, just a matter of its practicality. Sure, if Jane had been a little more thoughtful leaving the house she would have managed her time a little better and instead of using valuable time to address her shocking state, she would have used her minutes trying to get her stilettos off her feet. Though, when Korsak had arrived she made an executive decision that it would take more time to get her foot out of the one she still had on and decided to just press the other one on too. This is why her comfortable sneakers were still somewhere in her hallway and not on her feet at this very moment. On the bright side, at least she matched?

**A/N:** Hello everyone and again, sorry for making you wait so long. I have good news and some bad news: good news: I will have the next chapter up in a day or so! Bad news; both this chapter and the next one is completely un-beta'ed and since English is nowhere **near** my first language (just ask the people of my country, they will not understand the sentence "Is English your first language?") there is bound to be some atrocious spelling mistakes, and for this I'm very sorry! UPDATE: Krazyhippo66 is an angel and came to my rescue, again. You should all silently clap for her cause she's pretty darn awesome.  
Now: Hit me with your best shot! I hope you like it, and I **PROMISE** there will be Maura/Jane **one on one** in the next chapter (that again, will be up very shortly, is much longer and it's nearly all done) and some poison ivy and scratching, you know, to make things extra cozy. Oh, did I mention someone gets ordered to take off their shirt? No? Well, they do.

Ps: to the guest that commented who said she/he/it (technology these days, just saying…) that said Jane was treating Maura horribly which is why she didn't want to continue reading; I'm very sorry (and just now I realized you won't even see this) if you think so. This… writing and letting other people read it is pretty new to me and it didn't occur to me that people would be offended because of something I've written. So I will do some soul searching and try and think about just that. To you, whoever you may be, I'm sorry if I've somehow hurt your feelings. (But then again, I sort of feel I kind of made Maura stand up for herself too, so I'm not completely sure where I went wrong- but I'll try and think about my actions before I post!)

WOWSA! This is like an inner monologue getting out: I'm sorry people! DIFFERENT NOTE: I'm going to suit up and respond to your lovely reviews tomorrow! I love you guys! (Seriously, my head is so big I have problems finding a hat, and it's minus… minus... (had to check) 7 Celsius outside, so I really should.)

NEW episode out in a few hours! How exited are people?!


	5. I dare you to move

Sure, great idea, best one she'd had in ages. The second Jane declined the sneakers someone had miraculously left on a whim in the back of their car; she knew she had been stupid. Any time of the week the humiliation she would face from having to have two other cops try and lurk her feet from the confines of the stilettos would have been so much better than the final result of her stubbornness. It wasn't like it was every day she got the opportunity to relive traumatic events from her childhood. It had been one misplaced toe, and boom! Hello poison ivy, old nemesis.

Maura Isles had to marvel just a little bit at watching the officer who was clearly in pain stubbornly make herself as tall as she possibly could and bite in her agony. Korsak who had made his way just behind Jane wasn't sure if he should applaud her for not losing it and demand the roots of evil to be burned in front of her eyes right there at the spot, or give her a comforting hug for the day she had been through.

If her hair had been in its usual state, which was not _all_ that bad if she was being kind to her mother and gave it half an effort, it would have been on a manageable level of tangled. Right now however it was in an unshapely knot with twigs sticking out wherever they saw fit, trying to escape the mess that was Jane Rizzoli.

"Officer Rizzoli, so happy you would grace us with your presence." Oh she shouldn't have. She really shouldn't. It was just too easy, "Doctor _Isles_, can I have a word with you?"

Thank god and some other force, she actually had the decency to come with her and not put up another verbal fight in front of everybody.

"Officer Rizzoli, is there something I can do for you or do you have a good reason to keep me away from the body I should be examining?"

"Oh cut the crap, we both know we're in a sticky situation here, and frankly I would like nothing more than for this day to be over and for you and me to not be in this situation together."

"You and I." If Maura was going down, she was not going down without a fight.

"That's what I said, you and me!" Realization hit Jane like a train, fast and without remorse:"Oh my god, first you try to have me arrested, by my own department I might add, and then you correct my grammar?! What's next? Should I be looking for well placed stakes I'm about to trip on that will spike straight through my heart cause you've calculated my height according to the casualness of my footsteps?" Maura was almost flattered the officer had enough decency to realize that she was indeed capable of calculating that given scenario.

"You make it sound like I planned this!" Maura threw her arms in the air indicating exactly how ridiculous the accusations were. "In case you've forgotten I did not know that you were an undercover officer when I asked you out for coffee, I did not know that you would be the most sarcastic and awful person I could possibly stumble upon in all of Boston, much like I didn't kill this man so I would have the satisfaction of watching poison ivy branches cling to your awful outfit."

Jane had to hand it to her, when she put it like that she did have a fair point. "So you were checking out my body, huh?" Maura's eyes bulged, how on earth did one person jump from being angry one second to downright flirtatious the next? It was the reaction Jane was hoping for. Whenever you find yourself in a pickle, throw your opponent off their game.

Maura was starting to question Jane's psychological stability when she remembered that every police officer had to go through a mental test to get through the academy. And frankly, who in their right mind would purposefully throw themselves into a bush of poison ivy?

Jane eyed Maura up and down, anticipating her next move about the same time Korsak realized he really didn't need another homicide on his hands, "Rizzoli, get over here, I need to brief you." They shared one last look before Jane walked away leaving a rather speechless Medical Examiner behind.

* * *

"You know, this all your fault."

"How is this _my_ fault?"

"If you hadn't been speeding in order to get to my apartment," at Korsak's innocent expression she added, "oh yes, I know how long it takes from the department to my apartment if you go the limit. I would have had time enough to get out of this ridiculous outfit and I wouldn't be standing here pulling poison ivy out of my butt while getting the stink eye from the medical examiner." It was a good thing they went way back, because talk like that between ranks would have effectively put a stop to Jane's career had it been anyone else. "So now you're going to blame your lack of coordination on your superior officer?"

Jane opened her mouth to give her honest opinion on that matter when Korsak caught her glare- "don't answer that. Just remember I wasn't the one who basically schooled the medical examiner in front of a whole squad. That one is all on you and you're the one who needs to find a way to fix it."

She really hated it when Vince Korsak was right. It usually meant he would mark the day in his calendar and remind her of it every time he saw her until he found something better he could chastise her for. "And for the love of god, please let her help you with those itches." Alright, so he was pushing it, he knew, but the look of sheer horror and death he received was more than worth it.

"Alright people, you heard the medical examiner, we're done here, everyone back to the station."

Great. 14 minutes to get down the ravine and she was needed for absolutely nothing. Perfect.

* * *

Jane made her way over to her desk, silently thanking Korsak's usual methods of ignoring the speed limit as he was in his unmarked on an open road, _"What are they gonna do, arrest me?"_ for the fact that she was currently very alone in the bullpen. She also appreciated that he offered to go down to the café and get them both some lukewarm coffee, something about it being too soon for her to collect Stanley's balls, and successfully leaving her alone. This was really not how she intended for her first week collaborating with Homicide to go. From complete humiliation, to telling the medical examiner off, to just basically acting like a spoiled brat in a hooker costume. And for the love of God, she just couldn't help the irony in trying to catch a break when she attempted to sit down and only after the impact of the pressure remembering that there were still needles in her butt. And then there was the itching.

She considered scratching herself to death and if it hadn't been for the ridiculous engraving they were bound to put on her tombstone, she'd do it. Jane looked quickly examined the space around her. A ruler. Yes! That would do the trick, it wouldn't leave any scars because of the blunt end, plus on a happier note, she could reach almost all the places where the ivy had made its impact.

After a little effort she realized that simply wouldn't do, no matter how well thought out it had been. "There has to be a better way. What if I…" Jane made her way over to the windows that were more or less useless as they didn't go out to the streets but into the hallway where the elevators were located. Right now though, she found a new appreciation for the foolish placement as their blinds were made out of titanium, which would be far more efficient than any plastic ruler. In addition to this, she could also reach all the way down to her lower back. Fine, perhaps it wasn't the most dignified way to present herself, on the other hand, standing in front of her superiors with tears in her eyes from lack of scratching wasn't much better.

Yes, she had to agree with herself, this was the lesser of two evils, and if she just did it before they were all back she could still get through this coming out somewhat on top. A low moan slipped out simultaneously as someone made their presence known from the echoing heels clicking on the wooden floor. Quickly shedding all previous ideas; throwing herself out of a real window that was facing several stories down would be her preferred option of dying when one Maura Isles just walked into the bullpen.

"Oh," Maura Isles stopped dead in her tracks taking in the sight before her, a giggle trying to escape despite her best efforts, "I can come back at a more convenient time if…" Who was she kidding, Maura let out a snort as she begun turning around getting back to the elevator.

"Dr. Isles, wait." She hated her life; she _really_ hated her life right now.

Jane caught up with her before she'd had the chance to press the elevator button. "Yes, officer?" Jane let her expression speak for itself as she watched the other woman try to compose herself.

Jane pulled herself together and made herself appear as dignified as she could possibly muster under the medical examiners obvious gloating. It was three lovely dignified seconds before the itching got the best of her. "Let me see your hands."

"Excuse me?" Maura did not expect that. She sincerely thought she had made it out on top of the situation based on their current positions. "Let me," Jane pointed to herself as if she was introducing herself to a toddler, "see your", again with the obviousness to whom she was referring to, "hands", this time there were actual spirit fingers involved.

If Jane had ever appeared impatient before to Maura she just confirmed that as a fact not a hypothesis. Maura Isles gave her a questioning look and a sigh before presenting two perfectly manicured hands.

The officer gave a little snort, muttering to herself something about "of course you would have perfect nails", before raising her voice exclaiming, "That'll do! Now, scratch me!" Jane turned around to present the medical examiner with her burning dilemma.

"Excuse me?" Maura blinked, not sure if she had gotten it right.

"You heard me, if it helps, pretend I'm holding a gun to your head threatening you on your life if you don't scratch!"

"Boy, you really are desperate, aren't you?"

"What gave it away?"

When nothing still happened Jane turned around to look at the honey blonde, "look, you want to cause me pain for being a jackass to you, right? Well, this is your lucky day; I'm giving you my permission to scratch till you see blood, that's gotta make up for some of my comments, doesn't it?" On the last breath of her rant Jane was actually stomping her foot trying to get the process starting.

"Desperation suits you Officer."

"Don't get any ideas, this is a once in a lifetime occurrence." Jane punctuated her sentence with one last glare before turning around getting ready for the onslaught of nails.

"No."

"What do you mean, no? Didn't you take an oath before you got your license? Aren't you morally and legally obligated to help someone in need?!" Maura's breathing faltered just for a second, which was just enough for Jane to know she had her. "Ha! I knew that wasn't just some unwritten law!"

"Fine. Come with me, I'll need my equipment." Jane followed her into the elevator, but not before one last remark; "Remember; if you plan on shoving me into one of your dead people freezers, Korsak already knows I'm here, so they will find out."

* * *

Jane was about to perch herself on what looked like the most uncomfortable chair she had ever seen in her life, but one look from the medical examiner told her that was not on both of their agendas.

"You don't think sitting down at this point might do more harm than good?" Jane knew that, she just needed the medical examiner to tell her so that she would feel superior. _Right…_

Maura was walking towards her with a set of scrubs in her hands. "Here," Jane eyed the pile of clothes, "why don't you go shower some of the grit off your body and we can sterilize your wounds."

"I've seen 'Silkwood' you know. If this is some devious plot to use the hose on me, I'm just gonna tell you right now that-" "Your mother must be a saint, go shower and come back here when you're done. I'll clear your absence with Cavanaugh."

Jane stopped midway out the door, suspicious eyes asking "Why?" "Because they are probably wondering where you are at this very moment, and I would hate it if you used this against me and accused me of kidnapping or something." Maura couldn't help but give a little lopsided grin. The look she received in return told her it might have been a little too fresh of a memory for the detective. "No," to her surprise the officer's voice softened to something resembling an indoor voice, "what I mean is why are you being so nice to me when I've done nothing but make your life miserable since the moment I found out who you really were?"

"You go shower and I'll spill when you come back." And with that Jane gave a small nod and walked away.

Maura was a coward for setting herself up with time to contemplate her answer. If she was being completely honest with herself she didn't know the answer. Why wasn't she doing everything in her power to stay away from the woman who had been so rude to her? She thought about it for a second and it became shockingly clear to her. Jane Rizzoli was the only person that had taken the time to continue harassing her when everyone else settled on just a comment here and a greeting there. She couldn't remember the last time she had been in conversation with another person for so many consecutive hours.

Maura was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the light tap of Jane's now sock clad feet on the floor. Jane stopped, taking in the vision before her; this was one of Jane's favorite things to do, observe people when they didn't know they were being observed. It made her sound like a creep, but she enjoyed watching people when they had their walls down and were completely unguarded. Jane hadn't really taken the time to truly notice before with all her own grudges running amok in her head interfering, but the medical examiner was truly beautiful.

Another few seconds just admiring the sight before her and she realized she'd better make her presence known before she scared the woman on a whim.

Everything seemed to happen in that moment. Maura had a lonesome tear running down her cheek, and all of a sudden Jane was Jane again.

"Dr. Isles, are you alright?" Maura gasped, not knowing the woman in front of her was capable of speaking in such a soft tone. "Yes, don't worry, I just had.. my eye." There, she didn't say there was anything in her eye. She was simply stating not to worry and that she had an eye. That wasn't lying, that was simply… a dry sob came out of nowhere. It had hit her like a ton of bricks; she was the loneliest individual she had ever met.

Maura gave a little laugh, you know, the one that usually follows a sob when you realize how stupid you feel. "Maura. I'm about to make you take of your top, I think you should at least be able to call me by my first name."

"Maura," Jane chewed on the name for a bit, it suited her, "is there anything I can do?" Jane had brushed her hand over the honey blonde's shoulder on a whim, not remembering that they really didn't know each other well enough for her to do so.

"No, I apologize for my outburst, I didn't mean for you to...-"Ha, you've known me for 18 hours and you've already seen me have several outbursts all of them while portraying a hooker, I think I can let this one slide." Maura couldn't help but smile through her tears, how was it that she felt comfortable enough to let herself shine through the professional cloak she had spent so long perfecting?

"I'll be fine, I'm sorry, I think there's just been too much stress lately, and somehow you just-"Maura stopped herself mid sentence, something she rarely did, but she had finally looked up enough to see through her tears and take in the vision that was Jane Rizzoli. "Wow."

"Wow what? Are you sure didn't hit your head or something when I was showering?" Jane was genuinely concerned, the woman in front of her, Maura, had just done a complete 180 on her.

"No, it's just. You look so…" She was beautiful. Simple as that. Jane suddenly felt self conscious. "Normal? Tired? Yeah, zero make up and wet hair will have that effect on normal humans, we can't all look like we're about to stroll down a Paris runway you know."

A moment passed between them before something jumped to the front of the line in Jane's brain, "wait a second, what did you mean _'I'm about to make you take off your top?'"_

A/N:

There it is guys, hope you liked it? I'm not sure how fast I'm going to run things with their relationship, so any suggestions? And also, do you mind shorter chapters if it means more frequent updates? Or would you rather wait and have a longer one?

Random note: My mother thinks I'm adopted. Or the very least share a mind with Jane Rizzoli. According to my mother who watched her first R&I episode with me a couple of days ago; "Oh my god! It's like watching you on television sweetie". (I think she was referring to Jane's actions and mannerisms, which makes Jane so much easier to write than Maura.) Hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend! Thank you for reading and commenting, you're making my life so much more fulfilling at the moment its scary.


	6. Radioactive

A/N: This one might be a little on the dark side, but it won't stay that way for long, promise, just don't start reading this thinking you're going to laugh at the end of the chapter. In case you do; seek help.

Maura couldn't help but chuckle at the indignant way the detective was questioning her methods. "And here I thought I was about to turn a dream into reality. Really Officer, I'm sure we're quite a few hours away from me asking you to take of your top in any other way than the fact that I need to apply this lotion," Maura held the promised bottle up, "to your wounds."

A tiny mutter escaped, "You'd be surprised…" before Jane regained some sort of balance and added, "You know, you should probably start calling me Jane from now on since you're about to see more of me than anyone at this department will ever do."

Maura was looking to find a pair of scrubs she intended to change into before she attended to the wounded officer and stopped just short of the door after she had found them and threw over her shoulder, "I'm surprised, you didn't like Tiffany?" to which they shared a smile. "Funny, Dr. Isles, very funny."

Only when Jane found herself alone in the Medical Examiner's office did she start analyzing the situation in between focusing on trying to reach all the places the itching was trying to get the best of her. In a few moments she would be basically naked in front of the woman she had spend the better part of her resent awake hours trying to make miserable. Why she was the chosen target for her ill timed short tempered tantrums she didn't want to get into right now, there was no time. Jane quickly scanned the room in hopes of getting to know the other woman a little bit better. There were souvenirs from all around the world, something that for some reason intimidated Jane. This was a refined woman, based on all their encounters, she never looked out of place, hair always immaculate, dressed to the nines, and no matter how much she had given her a reason to swear, not _one_ indecent word had escaped the woman. That was definitely a confirmation that she really didn't belong in the confines of a basement hidden away from the rest of the world. Yet, there she was, about to help Jane despite all the things she had put her through. With a deep sigh Jane realized she really had some damage to repair.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there thinking about how to make it up to the woman before what she realized had to be the most comfortable voice she ever had to listen to, asked her the million dollar question.  
"Jane, shirt? You still haven't removed it."

And here she thought she had been on a good roll with several good ideas about how to try and make up for her poor attitude, but in the midst of it she had completely forgotten about trying to figure out a way out of her soon to be very naked situation. Alright, focus, there had to be about three different ways at least, she could get herself out of this, although none of them would help with the constant itching, but damn it to hell, was all the questions she was about to receive really worth it? Just when Jane was about to throw in the towel in defeat she remembered an old voice from the academy that sounded a lot like Korak's telling her to go back to basics and throw your opponent off their game. Hey, it had worked once today, maybe it would the second too?

Maura didn't like the look that appeared on the raven haired woman. The only word, well not only, but the one most applicable to the situation, that came to her mind was predatory. Jane's heart was beating so hard she was surprised the medical examiner hadn't noticed yet. This was either going to be the end of her- death by scalpel- or she would be in deeper shit than she already was. Jane looked around the office and searched the windows for any human activity before boldly daring the Medical Examiner with a raised eyebrow and a smirk; "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

There was most certainly a gasp escaping the honey blonde. Jane couldn't help but grin, fair enough, the woman had showed some balls earlier going up against her, but this was really what sorted the badasses from the asses. She decided to push it. "If you think about it, it's only fair, isn't it?" Jane was on deep waters, and she knew it, but she didn't get to where she was today by playing it safe. Calculating, Maura eyed the other woman's facial expressions. To her avail she had to admit the seminars she had attended on the art of profiling really didn't tell her anything at this moment. With a frown she concluded that clouded judgment by clammy hands and a rapidly beating heart had probably not been taken into account when opposed with the person in question.

This had to be a test, one she was not about to fail. Not once had she ever gotten anything less than an _A_ on every single one of her exams, and she was determined that this was not going to break her perfect record. Maura rationalized, she had already cried in front of the Officer, how was some skin going to hurt? In one quick motion Maura pulled off her scrubs leaving her in a black lace bra. Jane really thought she had out done herself on the level of stupid decisions previously the same day, but apparently there was still more to come, an area of creamy silky skin before her definitely proved that right.

"There, now will you please let me help you?" Maura had anticipated some sort of reaction to her uncharacteristic behavior, but complete silence was not one of them. On second thought, a chill ran down her back leaving a trail of goosebumps, Jane didn't _know_ this was completely out of her comfort zone, what if she thought this was a normal procedure that went down in the morgue? Every Tuesday being naked Tuesday or something? Maura had read about that in a magazine recently, how there were groups of people who lived by these- not the point right now. A blush crept up from the swell of her breasts to her cheeks.

A horse "Maura, I was kidding," broke the silence. Jane's eyes trailed down the newly exposed skin and she didn't know whether she should laugh or cry, or holler and attend some parade with lots of rainbow colored flags. She quickly hid her face in her hands afraid to be caught staring, while Maura thought it was out of embarrassment. "It was more of a joke than an actual challenge. Do you always take things so literally?"

"I'm sorry Jane; sometimes I have a hard time knowing when people are being sarcastic when they deliver a comment or if they actually mean what they are saying. You know, Freud meant that whenever one delivered something commonly defined as a sarcastic remark one usually meant what one was saying, but because of social norms it would be frowned upon actually revealing one's true intent in such a casual manner."

Jane had to peak out from her hands to figure out if Maura was pulling her leg or was actually being serious. "So you're saying I actually meant for you to stand in front of me in only your bra?"

"I'm saying, to some level you were probably curious, but based on the look of surprise still etched to your face I take it you didn't think I was actually going to follow your request?"

"Yeah, something like that…" Jane's eyebrows where still under her hairline somewhere, trying to get down again to their normal location but finding it difficult as their owner was still trying to figure out what the hell she had just done.

Maura had to laugh; her hormones really were all over the place today it seemed. "Now, will you please remove your top?"

Oh no, why hadn't she thought about this before?! Stupid African fertility vase that caught my attention… Jane gave one final look of panic before coming clean.

"I'm not wearing a bra, alright? The one from the hooker costume was more like a corset trying to eat away my bones and at the time it seemed like a good idea to leave it with the rest of the clothes, but right now I don't think I have had a worse idea, including wearing stilettos to a crime scene and rubbing my ass in poison ivy."

Maura tilted her head and tossed a towel towards the officer, "Here, use this to cover yourself, I promise I won't look. I'll even turn around till you give me a sign you're ready for me, alright?"

She just _had_ to add that final part didn't she? "Er…." With a groan Jane looked up to the sailing, waiting for it to fall down, but when a few moment later it was still in place she took one final look at the medical examiner's nearly naked backside, took a deep breath and removed the black scrub from her aching back.

"Alright, you can turn around now." Jane was lying on her back on the hardest most uncomfortable orange couch she had ever encountered in her life and wondered when the questions would start. She had scars, plenty of them, some healed, some too fresh to not notice when she was taking a shower. Most of them were from various encounters with perps, two bruises were the result of the latest battle with her younger brother Frankie over the basketball, but the one she was most likely to have to answers questions about was the scar from where a bullet had made its impact three months ago. That bullet had meant two things for Jane Rizzoli. She had finally proved her mortality, and she had proved to her bosses that she was ready for bigger things. Which is why she was able to run between Vice and Homicide depending on who needed her assistance. She wasn't proud of it, but on some level that bullet had made her more ruthless, more daring. Where other people would stop to think over what they were doing with their life, it had showed Jane the direct opposite, that she shouldn't doubt her choice of becoming an officer and hopefully one day, detective, for one second. This was her life now, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Jane was just about to let the medical examiner know that she had absolutely no intention of discussing the elephant in the room when a warm gentle hand grazed the barely healed wound making a moan slip out despite her best efforts. There was something about the fact that no one had seen her back since the bullet and no one except the doctors that had patched her up after the accident had gotten to touch it. Before she could analyze what was happening to her she had two streaks of tears running down her cheeks. A quiet sob escaped and she had no control. Her heart rate exhilarated, she was close to panicking, what the hell was happening to her? She didn't cry, Jane Rizzoli did _not_ cry! Especially not only because someone was being gentle with her!

"It's alright." And then there it was, the soft voice from Maura, her undoing. "Just breathe and try to relax."

Maura had read up on Jane's file the second she had gotten back from the scene down at the docks, her curiosity had been too peaked to just let it slide. She needed to know everything she could about who she was up against, so when she found a spare minute she had been enthralled with what had to be the most colorful woman in an officer uniform to date. She quickly learned Jane Rizzoli had been one of the first officers in her squad who had showed most potential. She had been described as always one step ahead of the rest, with a borderline reckless behavior etched into her blood, but always with a game plan and a plan B. It wasn't until the last few pages Maura forgot about the cup of coffee she had been slowly sipping while going through the pages. There, black on white was a complete transcript about what had gone down at a house in the suburbs not less than three months ago.

A curious neighbor had called in to let dispatch know about a man walking around in the neighborhood, looking suspicious, dressed in all black and wearing a hood to cover his face. Jane had been out checking up on a gang related robbery when the call had come through. Her car was first on the scene and went through the standard procedure checking out the grounds, making their way to knock on the door and ask if there was anything out of the ordinary going on. Her partner was around back trying to see if there was any sign of a forced entry done to the door, because they usually always went for the back door. Jane was alone in the front of the premises and had knocked on the door. When it went unanswered and they had noticed all the lights being on as they came up the driveway, she unclasped her gun from the holster, radioed to her partner that she was going in and turned the handle. The first thing that had met her was a woman sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs, she was wearing a bloodshed cream colored nightgown, and her previously blond hair was smeared red from where the bullet had left a gaping hole in her head. Jane had held her gun up in a shooting stance as she stepped over the woman and made her way up the stairs to where she heard a commotion. Her partner was right behind her as she made her way into the upstairs hallway, both clearing all passages, making their way over to the last room on the left.

Jane had heard the gunshot seconds before she made her way into what later she would figure out was a five year old girl's bedroom. The shot was the reason the little girl's father was taking his last breath trying to protect his daughter. Jane's partner had turned around to get the shooter while Jane herself had leapt to the young girl's aid trying to get her away from the shooter who had her on gunpoint. In a manner of seconds two gunshots rang out through the usually quiet suburban neighborhood. One of them got lodged in Jane's back; the other one had hit the window rail. The officer Jane was there with had missed his target and at this point it was an unarmed Officer against a man who held Jane and the little girl she was now holding in her arms at gunpoint. Other units had gotten to site, which was the only reason Jane had managed to take her shot as the intruder lost concentration for one split second. The last lines of the report was not written by Jane herself, but the officer she was with, who after the case, had decided to leave the force when he realized he wasn't the right person for the situations they were bound to encounter. It described how Jane had stayed behind with the little girl instead of getting her own wounds attended to as the girl didn't want to leave her side as everything she had depended on in her short life was now brutally taken away from her.

Maura had been sitting there with tears in her eyes and a lukewarm coffee before she had been called out to the scene that had lead to this moment where she had Officer Rizzoli on her couch crying brave tears.

A/N 2: Hey, did you guys know you're friggin awesome? Well, if you didn't, you should go out today with a smile on your face because you did a good deed making me smile and go fist bumping the air because of your awesome reviews and follows/favorite. I'm feeling really bad for not replying to the reviews, and I'm being a douche for saying I was going to and still haven't gotten around to do it, but I _**will**_ do it! So if you're getting a reply weeks later it's because I've finally gotten my ass in gear. Final notes: This chapter is completely unbetaed, so if there are screaming horrors of spelling errors, my deepest apologies. I hope you're all having a good day and have lots of moments that'll make you smile today.


	7. Safe and sound

It was two o'clock in the morning and definitely time for her to go to sleep, after all that is what she had promised herself before settling in on the couch, just one tivoed game and she'd turn in. Needless to say, that was three games and four stale beers ago. So what the hell was she still doing up? It wasn't like her presence would magically change the score in a game that was over three days ago, even though that would be pretty awesome as the Sox were down by two before the last inning. Jane gave a deep sigh and ran her hands over her face. Who was she kidding; she knew what she was still doing up.

Maura was pacing back and forth, something she rarely did. The last time she had found herself in this kind of mental state had been right before the results of their final exams in college were out. She had aced it, like her parents had predicted when she had raised her concern, like her teachers had guaranteed after watching her distress after handing it in, but still she knew one little mistake and she would have let them all down. That's how it always had been, sure, she had never not excelled in anything she had put her heart and soul into, but after some careful consideration during some lonely nights lately, she had started to question the motive behind her own actions. Dr. Roberts had made her see what she was truly doing. He basically broke it down to simple facts; she felt a need to make her parents proud because she needed them to not regret adopting her, she put all that hard work into her academics because facts and textbooks didn't lie. They didn't judge, and they couldn't point out all her flaws like the kids in the hallway corridor did whenever she was spotted. That had been her early years of childhood, and from there on it just escalated. She buried herself in her work, she never drew conclusions based on hunches or the famous police 'gut', she kept her home and environment tidy to such a state Dr. Roberts had raised concerns that she might have developed a mild form of OCD. She never used profanities, she never left her house without looking the best she could, and she would never do anything to compromise her work ethics. So why had she thrown everything she knew to be the clean and organized out the window and just gone for it when it came to handling one minor case of poison ivy?

* * *

Jane was in uncharted territory. The last time someone had seen her cry was her mother, which had been at the age of nine, and even back then it had been more of a dramatic performance than something that should actually pull at people's heartstrings. She had been the only kid that had to stay inside at the evening of the first snow fall in their street because of an unfinished science project. Already back then Jane had been something to observe. Angela had stood in the door quietly watching Jane torture herself. Her young daughter had pushed her desk and chair as close as they could possibly be to the wall, making her face almost press up against the window so she could see just how much fun she was missing out on when the first snowball hit her window. She had figured, if she never wanted this particular situation to occur again she would start doing her homework in time so she could never miss out on anything fun ever. It had helped, for about three weeks, until she had discovered that everyone blamed their dog for eating their homework. The Rizzoli residence didn't have a dog, so Jane knew she had to be clever in case someone actually did a background check on her story. It had taken her a very boring English lesson one morning to come up with the perfect excuse. Whenever a paper was due she'd make up an uncle named Willy who had been sent away from Boston due to a crime she was, of course, not at liberty to discuss. He had been sent all over the world, but the government had made him follow one single rule, which had deprived him of ever learning anything that wasn't written in Mandarin. Willy was known all through their school for his unbelievable post cards she had made sure would appear every now and then before she put her plan into action. Poor Uncle Willy had never been allowed to buy a Mandarin-English dictionary, which made it impossible for him to ever learn a single word, which again lead to him not learning anything new no matter how much he tried. So how on earth was he supposed to buy ice cream for himself when the weather was really _really_ hot? Therefore, and Jane had explained this part with tears in her eyes to press how important this was to her; whenever a paper was due, he would risk his own safety to magically appear on their doorstep at night, sneak in and look through their backpacks, oh yes, Jane had her little brother's back, for the fully finished papers and steal it so he could get educated. So, really, there was a completely logical reason why Jane didn't always find her homework where she was sure they were ready to be handed in.

It had worked very well, the first two minutes she had tried to explain what must have happened. Too bad it ended up in detention for two weeks and a letter from the principal to her mother where he said something about making sure Jane wasn't standing at the top of the stairwell whenever Mrs. Rizzoli was watching crime shows. On the bright side, her imagination and out of the box thinking had gotten her an A in English later that semester.

Jane gave a deep sigh, if only Willy had existed and could walk into the dimly lit office and tell Maura that she really wasn't a cry baby and was truly a badass through and through. "You could ask you know… I won't…" She tried to compose herself, her voice a mere whisper. Maura closed her eyes putting more pressure on where the bullet had exited. "How does that feel?" Jane didn't respond, she couldn't, there were no words for how she was feeling. A final dry sob escaped as the medical examiner gently massaged the scar tissue that was always causing her movements of late to feel a little bit off. "Hang on; I think I have something here that might help." Maura was moving gracefully around her office trying not to break the spell it seemed they were under. Everything was silent; the gentle ticking from the clock on her wall didn't even disturb their trance. As she was searching through her bottles for the lotion she had in mind she realized it wasn't one of the uncomfortable kind of silences she had grown so accustomed to. "I'm sorry, Maura."

* * *

The morgue had never been famous for being a place where loud conversations took place or where people would suddenly burst into song and dance on the tables. Usually people were too taken aback with the thought of what they were about to do, if it was to identify a loved one, praying for a clue in a wild chase, or trying run away from their nightmares on a surprisingly comfortable orange couch in the nearby office.

Whatever it was, Jane would tell the person going down there that they were in the very best of hands if they found themselves in the presence of Maura Isles.

At least that's how it felt for Jane at the moment. A gentle warm hand was slowly making its way over the irritable scar tissue she could still feel wasn't really a part of her body yet. It didn't hurt the same way as her other scars. This one felt different, it made _her_ feel different. It wasn't caused by Jane's usual semantics, like running down the stairs in slippery shoes as a teenager and falling flat on her face, or whenever they got too competitive during thanksgiving rugby matches. No, this one had a purpose when it was etched into her skin; it was made out of selflessness instead of stupidity. Fine, some people might say it was a little bit of both, but Jane had done what she had to do in that situation, and there was no way she could go back and undo what she had done.

Jane didn't know what to make of herself at the moment. There was one side of her that was screaming at her telling her how incredibly stupid it was of her to show this kind of weakness to a person she barely knew and in addition, probably would become a very huge part of her professional life. She didn't have room for errors on this one, if anything Jane prided herself in being able to confront the issues she had on her own time, it would never compromise her work.

On the other hand, she had never felt more safe than she did right now, which was a laughing matter on its own because objectively speaking she was topless, she had tears streaks running down her cheeks which made a pretty weird looking end result as the rest of her face was pretty much lobster red from where the ivy had made its impact. And rather than run away from the only person in the department who could swear on the bible that Jane Rizzoli actually had functioning tear ducts, she was enchanted by the comforting aura the medical examiner seemed to enforce just by being close. If that hadn't been confusing enough, this woman could actually kill her with a scalpel and probably do it without ever being caught, but instead she applied more lotion to her hands and started working out some knots she had discovered.

The soft humming from the dim light in the corner combined with the soft touch to her bare skin felt more soothing than anything Jane had encountered since the day she had gotten her badge.

* * *

Non breathing individuals, people who couldn't moan and give out dry sobs or gently laugh when you found a ticklish spot; that was what Maura knew how to handle. That's what they had taught her during her quest for knowledge in pathology. Running her hands over smooth olive skin that had more bruises and scars than most of her usual patients Maura realized how far out of her league she was. She didn't know how to handle herself in the situation, which is why she was surprised she was still standing on her own two feet and hadn't fainted from the whole experience. That's what she would normally do; her body would shut itself down until it was ready to face something, she didn't know how it was possible, but whenever it had happened before, her mind had somehow had enough time to come up with either an appropriate answer or action to whatever the matter was. She didn't know if she should feel betrayed by her own body or joyous that she somehow had evolved enough to handle whatever this was.

"Jane, I need you to turn around for a moment, can you do that for me?" That voice, so calm and rational while still being warm, how did she do it? Jane, who was still face down in the orange fabric, closed her eyes. She knew her red eyes would give her away instantly, and her still shaking body didn't exactly help her effort to try and regain some amount of respect she was sure she had lost in the eyes of the other woman. She opened and closed her eyes one more time, trying to calculate how she could turn around and be able to both juggle the towel that was trying to keep her modest and still be able to run a hand over her face to make the tear streaks appear less protruding. "Yeah, just... will you close your eyes for a second?" Maura gave a little smile and let her know she could. Mistake number... hell, how many mistakes had she really done in the last day? Until someone reminded her or actually kept score she would call this mistake number five for the time being, which was taking in the vision that was Maura Isles before her. From all the emotional trauma she had been through on the couch she had momentarily forgotten how beautiful the other woman was, which was a mistake in itself as it could have prepared her a little bit more for what was right there within her reach.

* * *

Jane wasn't _gay_. Yes, she used the old excuse,"oh no, that's my girlfriend right there, sorry guys", if she was out with a friend who just happened to be a girl too and they didn't want to entertain a couple of guys who thought they'd get lucky with either one of them in the lonely late hours if they just kept the drinks coming. Jane and her friends had used the line a lot and it had worked fairly well until the day it hadn't.

They had been a pretty large group from the police academy that used to go to the local watering hole whenever a long week was over and they needed some down time where the first thing on the order wasn't how to properly clean your gun. On one of their many outings the line had eventually been enforced into their vocabulary as the bar wasn't only for the academy and regular guys didn't get the picture as easily as their fellow classmates that they weren't interested in a quick roll in the hay on their day off. However, if that happened, and it was rare, it was only on the weekends, and one never spoke about it again. They'd all agreed, there were a lot of hormones going around, and the drama that ensued after, if both parties just didn't let it go, was bound to mess up their class dynamic and when you were at the academy, everyone needed to have each other's backs, so they knew not to mess around too much.

It had started out like it usually did. Jane and Amy were sitting at the bar with two shots each, celebrating beating all the guys in their class at the firing range. They were at the same dorm and had gotten pretty close over the course of the semester, none of them believing in all the guy drama some of their less focused classmates found themselves throwing fits and tearing out their hair out over. Three shots were already lingering in both their systems and just before the fourth and fifth were to join them; a couple of guys had found the drunken courage to walk over. The guy who introduced himself as Simon had to be the most arrogant guy Jane had ever encountered, and that was saying a lot as Crowe was in the class above her. Finn, on the other hand, could probably be decent enough, but the way Simon was egging him on, he was now competing in the douche bag of the year contest and had already gotten a head start when the first thing he did was grab Amy's ass.

"Ladies! Looking _fine_!" Simon's breath was seeping though his untrimmed beard and got stuck in the girl's nostrils trying to break away from the hairy mess they had left behind. "Whaddaya say, wanna see the car? It's a Mustang. The front seats go all the way back if you know what I mean." Apparently, Finn really didn't believe in a simple 'hello' as a conversation starter. His line made Jane attempt the biggest eye roll she had preformed since entering the academy and they almost got stuck because they were taking such a long time to go all the way around. "Yes, that sounds lovely, please let us get in there babe, I've always wanted to get it on in a _Mustang_!" Amy usually didn't drink, which was probably a good thing, because the girl really couldn't handle her alcohol. She jumped up from her chair with the biggest grin she could muster; the strawberry margarita she had been sipping along with the shots was probably the reason behind her perkiness. She grabbed the keys he was holding out to confirm he actually did indeed drive a Mustang. "Hell yeah! You hear that Simon, I'm getting laid tonight!" Finn made a whooping sound and gave his friend a hard 'manly' shove on the back. Amy sweetly crushed both his dreams and his manhood while she was on it,"Oh no, sweetie, I wasn't talking about you. Jane, you coming?"

Jane had still not made an attempt to stop Amy from doing something stupid, but when the redhead turned around and gave her a wink she couldn't help but laugh when she saw their faces.

"Wait a second." This was apparently not Simon's first rodeo. "Are you trying to tell me you guys..."  
"Look at her, wouldn't you switch teams for this one?" Amy was eying Jane up and down, a seriousness to her tone that made it all sound so much funnier as it turned out she wasn't really in any condition to stand on her own two feet and after half a second had to use the bar stool to support her weight.  
"Prove it."  
"Wow now guys, if _you_ said you were gay I'd definitely believe you, it's not like I'd ask to see a rainbow tattoo on your penises to make you prove your gayness to me." Jane really didn't like where this was going. Before she knew it there was a silence in the room and a pair of soft lips were covering her own with a fierceness that would probably make her fall off her chair if it hadn't been abruptly over as the hollering in the bar came to a crescendo. "Come on Finn, we're out of here." And as their reclining backs were walking out the door a wicked face appeared in front of her; "Always knew there was a reason you didn't take me up on my offer, Rizzoli." And that was the day both Jane and Crowe had figured out that she might be a little higher up the Kinsey scale than she had lead both herself and people to believe.

* * *

Maura was standing so very close to her, the hair that was softly cascading down to the top of her breasts looked so soft that all Jane wanted was to reach out touch it. Then she shockingly realized, there was _a lot_ of Maura she wanted to touch, and it didn't end with her creamy ivory skin. Wait a second, this was inappropriate. This was not part of the deal! Jane slapped herself, a slap that made so much noise in the quiet room that Maura's eyes flew open at the sound of it. "Jane, are you alright? I know it itches, but that will only help for a second. Here, just let me-" Jane couldn't help but send up a silent thank you to whoever was listening for her encounter with the ivy which lead to the perfect diversion from the true reason behind her slap. A gasp left her lips before she could stop herself, Maura had her hands on her shoulders trying to make her sit up straight and Jane being in her own thoughts were too preoccupied to remember the laws of gravity and the fact that they were about to grab hold of her towel. "I'm so sorry, I should have voiced what I was about to do Jane." Maura had her eyes shut close again, and Jane was silently throwing a fit that would teach her thoughts to shut up when she needed them to focus on what her hands should be doing. "You're smiling, how much did you see?" Jane eyed the other woman suspiciously, even though she was _so_ not in the right position to be offended as it was her own stupidity that had led her to this situation. "Jane," Maura was now leaning over her trying to reach the irritable skin on her left shoulder, the fabric of her bra making contact with Jane's ribcage,"I closed my eyes the second you started gasping, I promise, and even if I hadn't just seen what I saw, it's not like I don't have naked people on my tables here every day, so really, there's nothing to feel embarrassed about. After all I am a doctor. "Aha," an accusatory finger entered her personal space before she had time to laugh about it, "So you **did** see!" Maura didn't reply at first, and just gave her a crooked smile,"Let me guess, you're about to tell me to take my bra off to level the playing field?" Yeah, ok, so Jane was definitely playing a high stakes game, she should have never underestimated the genius that was before her. Answering way cockier than she had the right to;"Something like that."

Maura thought about it well and hard, and figured she could have some fun with it. Maura leaned in close to the raven haired beauty, gauging her reaction at their close proximity. As she reached around herself in search of the clasp that held it all together she took notice of the dilated pupils that were watching her intently. Just as Jane was about to tell her she was joking and for the love of God to keep her clothes on, Maura gave a wicked grin she didn't know she had the facial muscles to pull off and stopped in the last second, "Sorry to disappoint Officer, but I'm fairly certain you can't make me."

Just as Maura thought she had regained some balance and knew where she had the Officer, Jane pushed the limit.  
"You wanna bet?"

**A/N:** First of all, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your lovely reviews, favorites and alerts, you're the **bomb**! Secondly, I'm really sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. RL has been… kicking my arse, and on top of something personal, add 11h at work 7 days a week and a couple of power naps here and there instead of a proper night's sleep- my head has been (is) messed up. So, you guys are totally saving my sanity without even knowing it. Or, well, now you know cause I just said it, but anyways, alright, I'm rambling. This chapter is completely un-betaed I'm afraid so every flaw falls right on my shoulders, my poor beta is drowning in her final exams, so I figured I'd let her worry about that instead of this little weirdo project of mine. I hope you're all having lovely snowy days with lots of good chocolate and lots and lots of sugary treats. Again, you rock my world.

**A/N**: Soooo do not own a thing. Oh, and I know we're still located in the morgue and nothing has really escalated yet, but… we'll get there, pinky promise;) If there's something you're missing from the story, please don't be afraid to tell me and I'll do my best to fulfill some requests out there.


	8. We're not crazy, but we must be mad

Quick! Game change, Rizzoli. This was getting way out of hand. Like fourteen light-years ago.

What the hell was she doing? Yes, for the love of God, please do make a woman you've encountered a few times play a perverted game of strip poker, without the cards and the chips, cause _that's_ always a smart move. The BOLO that was out on Jane's misplaced mind would probably not come up with any hits in the near future. A future within homicide or ever becoming a detective? Well, this was probably not the best way to show people that she could handle pressure.

"Maura," Jane gave a very deep sigh, on one side she wanted to slap herself for letting her _initially_ innocent joke go this far, on the other hand, she wanted to punch herself for not having the balls to see how far it could have gotten, "please do not further undress yourself".  
Maura realized she had been given an out, and she took it. If they hadn't been at work, and she hadn't been highly professional… if she didn't already feel like she had pushed her own boundaries way too far already… she didn't know if she'd take it or not. The thought scared here, but also surprisingly thrilled her to some extent.

"And exactly _why_is that Officer, did you _just_figure out you're playing with someone way out of your league?" Jane couldn't help but let out a relieved half chuckle, "yeah, something like that."

Truth be told, if anyone were to enter the good doctor's office at that moment there was no way in hell she could explain the situation.

So why the hell wouldn't she get the chance to try? Apparently the gods of reason decided to answer her right there and then.

"Excuse me, Dr. Isles, I got a hit from AFIS on the finger-" Her boss in her bra, laces all over the place, a woman who was clearly suffering from some sort of Toxicodendron radicans also clearly topless between her legs on her couch... After a quick scan of hidden cameras and a crew she finally managed to complete her sentence," ...prints?"

Maura tried to speak above the loud groan coming from Jane who had decided to try and choke herself to death by towel; "Hello Senior Criminologist Chang, just leave the folder by my desk please, I kind of have my hands full here." Even though she wasn't a detective, Susie didn't really have any difficulties confirming that with her own eyes. "I'm really sorry; I didn't know you had company."

"Oh no worries, this is Officer-"A hand to her mouth stopped any further explanation.

"That will be all, Susie." Jane tried to focus on giving the woman a nice smile thanking her for her perfect timing and all other services she probably did the department on a daily basis while still trying to keep her mind from thinking about the perfectly sculpted lips she had her hand pressed into.

As soon as Susie was out of earshot and hopefully three walls of cement away, Jane let go.

"What was that for?!" If someone, _no_, Jane was _not_ going to say _"enter at that moment_", one time was enough, they would have taken one glance at the medical examiner and fairly deducted the level of pissed she was."You do realize I am her boss and it does not look very well if someone on my table is physically trying to keep me from speaking. You simply do not do such things!" If Maura had been exposed to siblings or close friends while growing up she probably wouldn't have overreacted the way she did as she would have been used to getting a hand slapped over once mouth whenever there was a possibility one was about to reveal something one shouldn't. Unfortunately for Jane, that was not the case.

"Sorry, I panicked! You were about to say "_Rizzoli_" and in three seconds it would be all over the department how Roly Poly Rizzoli was butt naked on one of the death beds trying not to scratch her butt with the hot medical examiner watching!"

Maura just stared at her, the frown she was sporting slowly turning into a mischievous smirk, "you think I'm hot?" Whatever had happened to Maura and her loose tongue, she wasn't complaining. Never before had she so openly been teasing anyone before in her life.

Jane on the other hand couldn't help but roll her eyes until she remembered what she had just said. Great, just walked right into that one, didn't you Rizzoli?  
A goldfish would be impressed by the level of gaping that was being projected before Jane managed to get a grip; "It's a figure of speech, alright?" Jane maneuvered around the bed trying to scurry together both the towel and her dignity that was nowhere to be found. "I'm just going to…" Jane pointed towards where her clothes had been last seen, and tucked the scrubs safely into her bottoms while gathering up courage for the ambush of gossipy police officers she was about to walk right into.

* * *

It wasn't until Jane was walking up the stairs from the basement she realized she probably should have thanked Maura for her help, or said… _something_, instead of just walking out like she was some kind of late night booty call.

Unfortunately, or luckily, she didn't really know how she felt about it all at the moment; she didn't have time to think about that as Cavanaugh was delivering on of his many speeches as she entered the bullpen.

"Alright, listen people, they're beginning to feel rushed, they're making more mistakes because they know we're getting closer, this is exactly what we wanted. Grayson, Micha, you're on tonight, you monitor all the places we know about, you double the security on the places we think they might venture into, they as much as breathe I want to hear about it. For the rest of you, go home. You've all done great work, we'll meet again tomorrow at nine sharp for a thorough debriefing. Crowe, you're on call, if things go down tonight I want you there before they've figured out their next step. Rizzoli…" Jane was standing attention by the wall soaking up the information, they were really moving closer to the end of this case, if they could only…" Yes, Sir?" "Tomorrow morning I want you down with our ME going over all the forensics, see if there's a pattern or a link we're missing between our victims."

Luckily the tremor that run though every fiber of her being didn't have time to manifest itself other than in a weird twitch of her toe as she reluctantly agreed. "Of course, Sir."

* * *

Jane shut the door behind her, trying to keep her mind on track, but failing miserably. The idea was to have a relaxing afternoon on the couch, probably take a new shower and apply some of the gooey stuff the Medical Examiner had given her.

It was time to assess the situation. The new ME had seen her cry, bad. The new ME smelled great, good. The new ME… was ridiculously out of her league, which she had already so bluntly stated. Good, bad? Jane wasn't sure. The ME… Damn it, a little voice shouted; just call her Maura already! You're on first name basis with each other.

Jane released a deep frustrated sigh. She was more lost than Monica Lewinsky's virginity about what to do with the whole situation.

She _could_ just pretend like nothing had ever happened, that could work out for a while until they either solved the case and she was no longer ordered to be near the other woman, but on the other hand they would have to work together if she ever made homicide, and then it would be all awkward again. Furthermore, they would have to work together all day tomorrow. She could fake her own death, but it seemed a little far stretched, cause then she would end up in the morgue anyways, plus later on when Maura realized she wasn't completely dead, Jane would have to deal with her mother, and that just wasn't worth it. Jane released another sigh and tried to wreck her brain, quickly realizing it was as futile as keeping Korsak from his obsession with kitten videos on youtube.

Quickly scanning though the channels she ended up on an old game, which didn't help at all, her mind reeling, getting stuck on the ME every time she tried to keep track of the score. This must be how teenage boys felt all the time. Jane realized she probably could have been a little more compassionate about her brother's mishaps in their early dating schemes. A laugh escaped before she could even finish the thought, no way. It's not like the female population had it any easier. Yes, they usually didn't end up doing the asking out part, but there were certain expectations they were supposed to uphold. One, always shave your legs, even if the mere thought of having a pant clad leg rubbing up your heel tortured calves made you cringe, cause all you could think about was the uncanny similarities to a dog jumping your leg, you'd do it.

Second, your hair was supposed to be shiny and meticulously groomed. Jane ran a hand through her tangles, yeah; she'd never gotten high scores on that particular point.

Damn, she'd bet Maura Isles was every boys wet dream ever since they attended a health class that made them realize girls had parts they probably at some point wanted to research for themselves. Oh yes, with her honey blonde hair, cute nose and ridiculously nice manners. If you didn't happen to try and run her over with a bus every time you met her that was. Metaphorically, of course. _Oh, you've done such a good job so far Rizzoli!_ Maura probably had a whole trophy room filled with diplomas from every Ivy League fighting over her and she'd somehow managed to attend them all and just aced all their classes. She probably had a letter personally signed by the president just thanking her for being such a nice person, explaining how the world was a much better place to be living because of her perfectly groomed hair. Artists all over the world probably sent her portraits of her that they'd done, thanking her in bronze statues of her lovely body for being their muse. Doctors all over the world probably paid her a gazillion dollars to get a hold of her hairbrush just so they could study the DNA on her hair strands just so they'd know what they'd be going for when they attempted to clone the perfect human in a couple of years.

What. The. Hell. Was. She. Doing?

Jane gave herself a firm slap. This was exactly what she'd promised herself she wouldn't do. Analyzing everything there was to appreciate about the other woman and their encounters making her sound both obsessed and borderline psycho at the same time. And when had her mind reeled itself over to dates anyways? This wasn't normal. Was it? She'd never done it before, so why should she start now? If she was being honest with herself it was all circumstantial, right? They had met; they had shared a bottle of lotion in their underwear and had shed a couple of tears together. Circumstantial, everything.

So why the hell did she feel like she'd just sold her soul to the devil? And why did it somehow feel good? Jane realized she wouldn't get any answers until further studies had taken place. The only thing that made sense at the moment was to drink a beer.

* * *

On the other side of town, in a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses with its narrow gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks, Maura Isles was standing by her kitchen island pouring herself a glass of pinot noir. On ever other afternoon this in itself wouldn't be an out of the norm occurrence, but today it somehow felt different. Like she shouldn't be drinking alone. Like what she should be doing, was share this bottle with a certain Officer she had just had the pleasure of treating for poison ivy.

The funny thing was, if this had been yesterday she would have downed the drink at proper intervals of sips throughout the evening without a second thought, because yesterday Jane Rizzoli had been like all the other officers and detectives she had encountered during her time at the department. Today she was all but. Today she wasn't the coarse police officer who didn't need help or showed vulnerability, the one who didn't need anyone or gave a damn what other people thought about her. Today she had been Jane Rizzoli, the hard working police officer who gave everything she had and more for a job that was brutal and honest with her and gave little back. The woman who had been face to face with death and life choices that would have other people in therapy for years just so they could get a good night of sleep. Today she had met the woman who made her take breaks between sips of her wine because she wouldn't leave her thoughts for more than a couple of seconds before Maura was right back at thinking about her.

Why was she so intrigued with this woman? Sure, she was esthetically pleasing to look at, that hadn't been a secret since the first time she had met her, and so that wasn't it. With her tall athletic build Maura was sure Jane had at least half the department pining over her even if the other woman was completely oblivious to it. No, that wasn't it. Maura furrowed her brows in concentration, trying to pinpoint the very root of Jane that had her so intrigued. A light bulb flickered on after a second sip.

It was her eyes. Those deep pools of sharp dark brown looking right though her façade. The first time she had looked into them, she had seen nothing but a closed off curtain trying to keep a woman hidden behind make up and skimpy clothes. The second time she had been on the receiving end of glares so fiery she had to dig deep to find layers of herself she had rarely used for it to become a fair match. The one time she had actually _seen_ those eyes, open and looking right into her very souls, she was shaken. Shaken from the depth that appeared before her, something she hadn't noticed in any of the other encounters with such an intensity she had a hard time looking away. It was like a moth to a flame and she knew she had been thoroughly burned at the end of their last encounter. Maura gave a deep sigh, and tomorrow there would be nothing more left of her if she didn't get it together. Cavanaugh had called her the second she was about to leave her office, notifying her that the second she entered her morgue tomorrow morning, she would be standing shoulder to shoulder over their previous victims with the very essence behind the burning sensation in her mind. The most petrifying part was that Maura welcomed the burning feeling. It wasn't a bad feeling at all, which deeply rattled her. She was on deep water and there was no lifeboat in sight.

* * *

She had come to terms with it. Maura Isles intrigued her like no one had ever managed to before. It was as simple as that. She had come out of nowhere, with her cute dimples and seen right though her bullshit and still wanted to spend time attending to her rashes without making a face. Jane cranked up the volume on the stereo standing in the corner. Normally the the sound of the television would do the trick, but when the shouting in her head was trying to reason with her, nothing worked better than to crank the volume up so loud she could almost drown it out.

That's how Frankie would have found her a few hours later, if only the door had been unlocked. Buzzed from the empty six pack that was left carelessly on the kitchen counter, singing along to the tunes of old and mostly forgotten classic she so rarely remembered loving when she wasn't out driving trying to drown out traffic noise.

The loud bang came at the right moment, just as Vince Neil took a breath before continuing singing Dr. Feelgood.

"Damn it Frankie, you've gotta open a door before entering" If there was one thing Frankie should have taken away from multiple incidents in his childhood it was that not every door could be opened by the force of his foot.

He finally made it through as Jane unlocked the door from within, singing along with the whole of Mötley Crüe making the scowl on his face become a slight grin instead. Frankie could count on one hand the times he had seen his big sis buzzed, still didn't make it less entertaining whenever it happened. "Damn it Jane, why can't you just keep this thing open?"

"I'm a single woman living alone in the streets of Boston; of course the thing will be locked!" One male Rizzoli eyebrow was trying to rediscover the route to heaven.

"Fine, so I'm not completely helpless." Jane gave her trademark grin while patting the Glock, which was getting acquainted with the empty cans of beer on the counter, affectionately.

Jane drowned out whatever Frankie was saying, the turmoil going on in her brain once again getting the best of her. The alcohol probably not helping. Dr. Feelgood… she just wasn't getting a break from the good doctors of the world today, was she? Jane snapped out of it, trying to sober up, she did not need her brother running to their mother explaining how she was drinking alone in her apartment singing karaoke into the night.

"What are you doing here and what... is that?" Jane was standing close enough to the box in his arms to poke into the mass of poofy fabric.

She cringed taking in the frilly pink fabric when it dawned on her. Ballet. One class, one hour, and boy did she wish she could time travel passed that hour so it had never happened.

"Yeah, Ma's throwing some things out, wanted to clear out some space in the attic, and I figured I should take this over here before it ended up on some innocent dumpster." Frankie took in the slightly glassy eyes that were trying their hardest to keep up with the information he was delivering.

"How awfully considerate of you." His big sister was swaying, pointing her finger in his general direction. Somehow he believed there was more than the six pack that had been consumed in a short amount of time since she came home. "Since when did you start believing dumpsters have feelings? This time, the truth."

Frankie knew every sisterly button he could push and get away with it, he also knew about a dozen other buttons that he would continue to avoid for the rest of his life. Just a little something he had picked up on over the years. Death threats and how to avoid them had taught him just how to work his sister if she withheld information that would at one point give him some leverage.

"This", Frankie held up the pink tutu with a disturbing smug look, "sister dearest, is my safety".

The most girly giggle he had ever heard came out of her mouth along with the following statement. "Then you're really screwed." So it had to be true then… The last time he had seen his sister this way…

"What do you want Frankie?" Truth be told, she was way too drunk and her mind was too preoccupied by images she shouldn't even have in her head of one Maura Isles to actually care or even try to keep it cool.

"This is a safeguard against possible adversity."

"Too many words, try again." Why the hell had she insisted on giving him a pack of toilet paper with word of the day on for his birthday as a gag when he dared to used it against her when she was drunk?

"You tell me everything that happened between you and , none of the folks down at BPD will ever know this existed."

"Great idea little brother!" How the hell did he … _Susie_. Fine, so if she was being perfectly honest with herself, it really wasn't so much Susie's fault as it was her own. A lot of people knew she met her end, literally, with a bush of poison ivy, and most of them were smart enough to realize she would have to treat it somehow. That, in addition to be late for the bullpen meeting, and having walked up from the basement… Didn't mean she was about to make it easy for Frankie to get information though.

"However, I'd rather play a little game of "tag-you're dead. I'll go first."

"Come on Jane, everyone is talking about it at the station. I swear some of the theories I heard about what went down there has to be way more explicit than what really happened, and you really don't want me to walk around with some of those images in my head. So it really is in your best interest to tell me what happened so that for one, I can get the nasty images of Dr. Isles doing the nasty with my sister out of my head and two, if you tell me the truth I can actually relate the proper information to those assholes so that no one is spreading nasty lies about you and the doctor."

"Frankie." It was meant to be heard as a serious threat, but Jane realized it sounded a lot more like a tired defeat than something that should make you run for your mother.

"So, it's not true, right?" Truth be told, Frankie was terrified to know the truth, he knew what his sister was up against if she started listening to her inner demons, and he really didn't want her to go down that path again. On the other hand, maybe this time it would be different. At least, this time she was singing and getting drunk at home, she wasn't crying her heart out when no one was looking, trying to block the rest of the world out.

"What, Maura and I having sex on one of the tables in the morgue? What do you think?" Anger. It just came out of nowhere.

"Alright, jeeze, calm down, I'm just trying to help." She knew, she really did, but she wasn't ready to talk about it.

"By using my tutu against me, yes, you're a real saint Frankie." Jane couldn't help but smile at her stupid lovable little brother. When did the tables turn and he started looking out for her and not the other way around?

"So… Maura, huh? You're on first name basis?" Maybe she'd try to have fun with this and not drop dead in anticipation of the following day? The beer having a party in her stomach convinced her it was a good idea.

"Well, I try to make it a rule that I at least know the name of the person I'm naked in front." When Frankie dropped the bottle of beer he had stolen from her fridge (wait, there was one left?) she realized that might have been a little bit mean of her. God knows everyone at the department was picturing the good doctor naked more than they were trying to dot the i-s and cross their t-s on their paperwork.

Alright, the beer wasn't fit to make any decisions right now, she had to be the grown up. "Frankie, I'm kidding, alright?" She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, swaying a little bit from the motion.

"So you were not naked in front of each other?"

"No, we were," Around here Frankie was clutching his chest with eyes that told her he was about to have a minor heart attack, "I mean, NO! Yes, I didn't," Alright, so this would have been a nice thing to get straight before starting the story, "Look, I got into some poison Ivy while we were out by the scene of the last victim, Korsak and I made it back to the bullpen before everyone else and he told me to go down to the doc and let her give me something for the itching before everyone else got back."

"So…. You went down there, and then she was all; get naked so I can get a good look on those burns?" Bless her little brother for trying to make it sound so normal.

"Yeah, pretty much?"

"So why the hell was she in her bra?!"

"Well, I might have…" Jane gave a sigh, why was she even talking about this? "…dared her to level the playing field?" It had been a long time since he had seen his sister look so sheepishly petrified and like she was about to burst into laughter at the same time.

Frankie just stared her for a full minute making her rather uncomfortable about the amount of details she had just shared, practically outing herself as a doctor watching perverted… before the impossible happened and Frankie raised his retrieved beer up in her honor while professing she was hereby his hero.

"Sis, you have so much to teach me. Where the hell were you during my Lindsay fiasco of 98?"

Jane gave a beer filled snort before deadpanning; "The Academy and _you_ were in high school and had no business in the woman's locker room even if you were just "standing watch" for Rick Calespi."

"Good point."

Jane made Frankie relocate to the couch, turning on the game again, this time swapping the unfinished beer that was waiting for her with a glass of water.  
"So… are you ready to talk about it?"

Jane kept her eyes on the game. "No."

It wasn't like he had expected her to cave at the first try. "Do you think you maybe want to talk about it later?"

Jane knew she had a lot of explaining to do ever since Frankie had been there for her the first time she had ventured out on a little adventure with a woman after her academy days. "Maybe."

"Ok, I'll drink to that." Frankie gave her a sideway smile, one he usually reserved just for his sister whenever she allowed herself to be less than badass with him. He loved the fact that she knew he'd always have her back no matter what went down.

The "Thank you, Frankie." Was said out loud, but the "I love you" was whispered in his ear when she gave him a brief hug before settling in for the rest of the game.

TBC

A/N: I feel like I owe you all an apology for not updating for so long. So here it is with an explanation for my absence;

I started these last couple of months with the wonderful swine flu. I became so friendly with the wallpaper in my room that the fever fantasies that followed and made the pattern there take on a life of its own almost made it worth it. Almost. However, after BBF-ing it up with said wallpaper for a week I tried going back to work: horrible idea, which resulted in the wallpaper reeling me back in for another week. Anyways, the lovely flu did make me forget for a couple of seconds the fact that my GF and I broke up, but then the fever went down and I remembered again. So basically, in addition to that some strange things have been happening and I've had a hard time getting my head wrapped around it all. I haven't really been in the mood for writing as both Jane and Maura would have decided to rollerblade down the outside of the Empire State Building without the rollerblades if the demons in my head won out. Luckily, I they didn't, so now you're getting some new chapters ;) I just wanted to thank you all for your lovely comments and follows; they've been kind of like… little snowflakes on a cake you just can't wait to eat. (Oh, yes, I'm sick again and I think I might have overdone it a little with the pain meds, so if you don't follow, that's perfectly fine- I'm sorry for what I've just put you though.) AN2: because I'm impatient and I don't know what's good for me, and I just want to update this sucker: this is unbeta'ed, and I still don't speak English as a first language or as a second, so there you go. A/N3: As you can probably tell, I'm beating around the bush with this story, and if you feel like I'm going the wrong direction, please do tell me so I know where to go. Because I'm clueless, which is another reason this has taken so long. Someone slap me if I ever start a story without knowing where I want it to go. I think I'll definitely be going back to one-shots after this one. Holy shit I'm rambling! I'm sorry! I'll stop now. You guys are the bomb. *supersecrethandshaketoyouall *


	9. Half of something else

She would swagger her way in the door, put on a face of underlying mystery and casually make her presence known with a sly, 'Doctor'.

The medical examiner would turn around, acting surprised to see here there, even though she _was_ expected, because she somehow thought she would be too… _cool_ to show up on time, so she would simply reply with a wondering 'Officer'.

Jane would follow up with one raised eyebrow and, since she was only on her first cup of coffee, her voice would still be a little gruff, and then she would casually drop an 'Isles...', getting the lay of the land.

Maura would be too perplexed to do anything but simply battle right back and say, 'Rizzoli...'before she would give her one long look that would speak volumes and Jane would finally gather up the courage to say her name. 'Maura'.  
If anyone else was there they might wonder why they were playing tennis with their names. 'Jane'. That would have been the last word uttered before they got into a slow staring competition before finally…

Yes, alright, so that was oneway she could go wrong in there. Jane made another attempt.  
She would open with, 'Doctor Isles.' The medical examiner would shake her head, the movement causing her hair to cascade around her face making it painfully obvious that she owned the best smelling bottle of shampoo known to mankind. 'Oh, no, please call me Maura', at this point she would flutter her eyelashes and give her one of _those_ smiles. Jane couldn't have that. What if she….

'Good morning, Doctor Maura Isles'. Nope, too formal. After all, they had been in their underwear.

Alright, last try. "Hollah, sistah!" Jane rolled her eyes, mentally slapping herself, yes; sound like a person who should have their own show because they walk around talking like _that_ to people. That probably wouldn't make Maura feel awkward at all.

Three seconds later Jane discovered it would have been a better move to have this conversation with herself out loud in the confines of her apartment where things like the following wasn't very likely to happen. "Oh for the love of God Jane, just open with 'hello'!"

"Korsak!" Jane twirled around with a look of horror plastered all over her face, eyes finally taking in her surroundings; she was standing, feet like cement, right outside the morgue. "How long have you been standing here?!"

Korsak's chuckle confirmed it, her daily dose of embarrassment welcoming her back for a new day with a bow, "Long enough to know that you're totally off your game."

"Game? What game, no one is playing any games here." Where it came from, she didn't know, but the long "pfft!" sound that followed and got swallowed up in a fake cough and a snort frightened her just enough to clasp a hand over her mouth, effectively stopping it from happening again.

Korsak rolled his eyes, "Jane, you know I think you're tough as nails, and there isn't a day that goes by that I wouldn't rather have you to cover my ass than the incompetent partner I'm momentarily stuck with, but if you don't grow some balls and get in there within the next three seconds I will call you a chicken shit till the day you make detective."

She contemplated that for a second, realized it didn't sound too bad at the moment. A shrug and a second later, her mind was made up; she could live with that.

Unfortunately for her, Korsak wasn't done. "Also, I will call your mother and tell her every time you get as much as a scratch _and_ I'll let Frankie know the _real_ reason why you were walking with a limp after the first case you ever worked on."

_That_ managed to get Jane's attention. "You wouldn't."

"I'm an old man, I could run and you would catch me, but not before I managed to press hit on this little picture message."

"Nice try old man, you're bluffing." There was no way he would ever do it. He knew how her mother-

"Oh would you look at that, if I press this icon over here I can even send it with one of those… what you kids call it again? A smiley face! Although I think it's stupid you have to crack your neck whenever you want to see it smile."

Before Jane realized she was actually sharing valuable information, enlightening his old school ways she had deadpanned, "Or, you know, you could just turn your phone!"

"I'll be damned... Thanks Janie!" Absorbed in this little discovery he almost forgot about his threat. Almost. "Now am I hitting send, or are you going in?"

* * *

She had been awake for almost thirty-six minutes just lying in bed before her alarm went off. As her eyes glazed over for the second time trying to make sense of the pattern in her roof tiles, Maura realized this was the most unproductive she had been for years. There had always been something she needed to do, something that would have her attention no matter. Yes, of course she had experienced sleepless nights before, but somehow this was different. A paper due, a seminar that needed attending, a report that needed a second glance… There was always _something_, but for the first time in her life the thing that had her awake and alert, wasn't a thing at all, but a person. A person she was due to meet in three short hours.

It wasn't because she was nervous. She wasn't afraid, but for the first time in her life, she didn't know what she was entering into. There wasn't a cause and a goal. She couldn't walk in there on a whim and just hope they would be professional, acting as if nothing was happening between them. Maura wasn't so oblivious that she didn't realize something had happened in those hours they had spent together. It wasn't standard procedure anything they've said or implied so there was no way she could find the answers she was looking for in some workplace manual.

Between the time it took to wash her hair and putting together her outfit for the day, there was one reoccurring thought running through her mind, she needed a plan.

* * *

Jane finally made it through the door, entering probably more like a scared kitten than the swaggering badass woman she had intended to look like three seconds before.

Alright, so far so good. She was doing fine. A little voice in her head told her it probably helped that the medical examiner was nowhere to be seen.

"Officer Rizzoli. Glad you could join us." Maura had walked in from the adjoining room where the lab was located, her nose buried in some files, trying to get as much work as possible done before the officer was due to come in.

Jane faked surprise. "Ah, there you are! Dr. Isles." What her hands were doing, she had no idea, but it didn't look pretty.

"There are gloves behind you and you can borrow one of the extra lab coats if you're uncomfortable getting your clothes exposed to anything you might find down here."

Jane had opted not to wear her uniform today as she knew she'd spend it six feet underground working in the morgue all day. If it had been up to her she'd be wearing sweats to try and make it up to her body after those fishnet stockings, but something told her that wouldn't have been received with good mirth. In the end she had ended up with a basic dark jean with a black sweater. "Thanks."

Two sentences had been shared for one full painstakingly long hour. "'Could you hand me those samples, please?" Followed up with; "I need to take another look at that file" 18 minutes later. They had avoided each other like the plague, Jane almost having a heart attack the one time she thought Maura was about to try and keep eye contact with her. Jane roller her shoulders and cracked her neck into place.

One deep sigh from the officer broke Maura's concentration.

"Is there something you need officer?"

The atmosphere had been almost glacial since they had sat down together. On opposite sides of the table in her office, trying to stay out of each other's way as to not get into something they shouldn't.

"Yes, I think I need a break. I've gone over these pages a thousand times and there's no way we're going to find something if I keep reading the same line over and over again, I think I just read the same paragraph seven times before even realizing it."

"Alright, so this is clearly not working. Why don't we try something different?" Maura was trying her darnedest to stick to her plan. She was just about to suggest going over the toxicology report one more time, focusing on other toxins than the ones that were common for them all when Jane threw her files on the table and made herself more comfortable in her seat.

"Great idea, I'll even start." Jane wasn't sure this was really what she should be doing, but between getting a cold shoulder from Maura and a bunch of words on a page that started to make less and less sense to her, she went for it. Honestly, she'd do almost anything to break the unbearable tension.

"Hi, my name is Jane Rizzoli, I'm usually too loud, and some people might consider me obnoxious, but that's only because they're sore losers if they're ever up against me in any physical activity. I own a hulk t-shirt, and I'm not afraid to admit that. I'm an officer, but someday I hope to make detective. When I go out to dinner I drink beer instead of water to my food, and I don't usually make a habit of daring my co-workers into taking of their bras. Usually I manage to keep all of my own clothes on, but in rare moments they come off if I land ass down in poison ivy." As an afterthought she quickly added; "Although so far that's only happened twice. The last time my mother gave me one more hour to play outside as a reward if I didn't scratch myself. I was 8."

Bemused by this, Maura tried to follow the detective's story without thinking too much of a young Jane Rizzoli challenging her own willpower keeping herself from scratching at a young age.

When she saw Maura's eyes light up Jane couldn't help but think this had been the right move.

"Now you go."

"My name is Maura Isles."

After a long pause Jane couldn't help herself, "…and…?" Jane gestured for the medical examiner to go on.

"My name is Maura _Dorothea_ Isles?" To be fair, she had never really played this game before.

Jane smiled into her hand, "alright, very good start, and thank you for the future leverage I will most definitely need if I ever want something from you. Now, go on."

Maura's face looked as it had just discovered something peculiar. "What's wrong with Dorothea?"

"Nothing, nothing, go on."

"I don't believe you…"

"And why is that?"

"Dilated pupils and a rise in vocal pitch. Although, Psychologists who study deception, are quick to warn that there is no foolproof method. Lying is not a distinct psychological process with its own unique behavioral indicators. It does matter how liars feel and how they think. Indeed, many of the tell-tale signs common to liars, like fidgeting and sweating, can also be signs of ordinary anxiety. It's tough to tell the difference between a liar and an honest person who happens to be under a lot of stress, but as you haven't been under a lot of pressure while being down here, I'm fairly certain you just told a lie."

Taken aback for a second Jane wondered if those were the kind of things Maura just knew out of the blue or if she studied lying techniques every night before going to bed.

"Alright, alright, fine, I'll tell you." Jane Rizzoli had never caved this fast before, but there was something about the look in the doctors eyes that made her think this was one of those make it or break it points if they were to ever going to be friends.

"Maura, I wasn't laughing because your middle name is Dorothea, sure, I _could_ tell you a story about the elderly Dorothea Tibernaccino who used to live down the street from my Nonna, but really, I was laughing because I can't believe I really, _truly_, have the worst middle name in the history of middle names."

"I believe you." And there it was, Maura Isles did believe.

"See, I'm a lot of things, but I'm no liar, now try again, and before you ask no, you cannot know my middle name."

"I don't know, there's not much to tell." She would not scare her away. Not now.

"Oh come on Maura, you of all people must have a thousand things to talk about that would intrigue the pants out of people." Jane caught herself. _Again with the lack of clothes! Come on Rizzoli, you're better than this!_ "What I meant to say- Look," Jane waited until Maura met her eyes, "You're the youngest Medical Examiner to ever get elected, your peers did that, which means you must be one hell of an ME, not to mention you've been all over the world if the little nit picks in your office serves as an indicator, you could probably write a book about your life and people would bang their heads in the wall when finishing it wondering how they're supposed to live up to something like that."

"That's work, I really don't…I guess people are right to call me socially awkward." The internal battle she was fighting wasn't showing. At least she had that.

"What are you talking about? I don't think you're-"

Maura waived her off, "No, it's alright, really, I am. Take today for example. I was petrified knowing you would have to walk in that door and spend so many hours in my company against your own will. I know I'm not easy to talk to, and I don't know how to hold a normal conversation without putting most people off. Chit-chat to me is like Old Norse language to most other people, something incomprehensible that just throw them off."

"Well, if you think that's the case then I must have hidden skills, cause I'm still here and as far as I know you're still speaking English. If you've been talking Norse all this time I want a slip with confirmation, date, time and a signature to bring home to my Ma so I can redeem myself for that English essay I failed in second grade."

"You're too kind Jane, but really… I think I'm a lost cause." Maura's smile didn't reach her eyes and Jane had to fight hard with her impulses to not reach out to her to stroke her cheek. "You can just ask my parents, or my therapist." Maura had just reveled one of her biggest secrets. No one other than her adoptive parents knew she was seeing a therapist. Ordered to see a therapist. By her own parents. They wouldn't have a child who wasn't less than perfect.

"Oh wait, is that how this game works? I'm Maura Isles and I've had irregular contact with a therapist for my social anxiety since I turned eleven."

The look that came over her the officer revealed everything she feared.

"I had a plan. For today, about how I would handle this, _you_. That's what I've always done. When I enter into uncharted territory, I make a plan. My plan for today was to find a common goal; we had one job to do and we were looking for one specific result, a link between the victims, simple as that, nothing more, nothing less. We didn't need to talk; we didn't need to bond. You didn't have to be nice to me, you didn't have to try and make small talk that actually ended in… this, yet you did."

Jane wasn't sure if she should be apologizing or be angry because she was trying to be a decent person and it was about to bite her in the ass.

"Jane, there's something you have to understand. That's what I do. The only thing I know how to. Find order in chaos." Maura shivered. "It has always worked… until you." It had hit her like a lightning bolt, and now there were flashing lights instead of the simmering fire, something she had never experienced before burning so strong she couldn't put it out.

"I'm a mess?" Jane looked down to her clothes. Fine, so she probably could have found matching socks, but at the very least her clothes were clean, and she had made a half hearted attempt at struggling a brush though her hair.

"Yes."

"Gee, thanks."

"No, messy is good." How had this woman managed to turn her life upside down?  
"I need messy in my life."

Jane didn't know what led her to say the next thing that came out of her mouth, but watching a bright smile form on the lips of Maura Isles she knew she had gone down the right path, "I don't know how it will work, but if you're willing to try, I can maybe show you how to get a little bit messier."

Roger "The Rocket" Clemens on April 29, 1986, the first pitcher in history to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning major league game, against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park. It had been the most beautiful thing young Jane Rizzoli had ever experienced seeing with her own eyes, sitting on her father's shoulder so she could see everything from their seats, the roar of the crowd when the ball hit the glove. Even today, if she closed her eyes, she could still feel the presence of all those people and her father cheering, the smell of hot dogs and ketchup coming from the stands. It had been one of the most perfect sights in her life, until now. Watching Maura Isles smile from within some special place she was just beginning to discover agreeing to venture out on this little trip with her… Jane couldn't help it, if she didn't break the spell she was bound to do something that would shock them both.

"See, everything is going to be alright." They shared another look, one that spoke hidden volumes. Hazel meeting Brown.

"Jane, can I have another try at your game? I think I get it now." Maura closed her eyes for a second, like she was deep in thought.  
"My name is Maura Isles, I'm a medical examiner, regardless of what people think, I am not a queen, nor am I a royal in any sense of the word. So it would be pointless to call me the Queen of the Dead as I hold no power over the underworld. I own an African spurred tortoise, his name is Bass and I've had him since he was small enough to fit in my palm. I like old books better than new ones, because nothing beats sitting down with one of the classics while sipping some wine. I used to fence in school and I like shoes. No, actually, I love shoes.

Jane couldn't help but grin, "See, now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

* * *

Maura couldn't believe someone had finally managed to break her long perfected attention span. Never before had anything as simple as getting to know someone kept her from keeping her head in the game and doing her work.

"By the way, should probably stack up on those rubber gloves, and pull up your hair, because your life is about to get a whole lot of messy."

"Why would I need rubber gloves?"

Jane just chuckled, a childlike glee coming from some forgotten place making her playfully dodge the question, "come on doc, we've got work to do!"

Maura didn't know if Jane was talking about the bodies they were about to dig into or if they were talking about her life.

As Maura took in the beautiful creature that had reminded her how it felt like to really smile, she realized she didn't care; she was ready to stop merely existing. It was time she started _living_ instead.

A/N: It's three in the morning and I'm going rogue. I have no idea if this makes sense tomorrow when I wake up. I apologize in advance. However if it does, I'll be spending 11 hours at work tomorrow (which unfortunately is in a few hours) so if you want to leave a review even if you usually don't, please do, because I will need something to keep me sane. Once again, you guys are my crack, and you should know you're getting addictive. 3


	10. Marching on

Jane knew how to talk to guys. If it hadn't been for the fact that they didn't see her in their locker room, they'd probably never acknowledge that she was in fact a woman. She could talk the talk and walk the walk. Hell, she had more swagger than most of them, and they weren't afraid to tell her so. She'd learned to embrace being one of the guys a long time ago. Things were less complicated than anything she had ever experienced trying to be friends with the female population she had encountered though the years, much to her mother's dismay. It might have stemmed from having only brothers and no close female friends growing up. She'd never bothered to learn how to speak 'girl', with their nail polish, hairbrushes and designer handbags. Whenever the girls in her class had their famous slumber parties, she'd be on the baseball field with all the guys, enjoying every second of it, knowing she didn't have to participate in meaningless discussions about who liked who, and who were the hottest guys in their class.

A usual school day consisted with all her spare moments roughhousing with the boys on either the basketball court, playing baseball or simply hanging out after school watching the Sox's do their thing.

Jane had just gotten home from soccer practice and launched her shoes in a perfected way into the hall closet while simultaneously trying to shut the door with her elbow, as her hands were desperately trying to keep the running nose blood from the carpet when the shrilling voice of a very upset Angela Rizzoli greeted her.

"Jane Clementine Rizzo-"That's how far she got before she saw the state of her unruly daughter's blood spattered face. "Jane! Again?! Do you have a secret wish to destroy all my good towels by the end of the season?"  
"Yeah Ma, the first thing that popped into my head after Sam's elbow popped my nose out was '_Oh goodie, one more towel down, only thirty-three to go!'_ No! Get me some ice will ya?"  
Jane made it all the way into the kitchen before she was met with a pack of frozen peas forcefully impacting with her nose. "Jesus Ma, are you trying to give me a nose job?"

"I just got a call from Mr. Haster." Alright, that would explain the deadly force behind the deliverance of the peas.

Jane tried all her might to set her face into the most angelic thing her mother had ever seen. "Principal Haster...? Why?" Jane suddenly realized the dull throbbing in her nose was about to be the least of her problems.

Jane was not giving up anything. Just because _someone_ had seen a flying cannoli coming from somewhere close to where she had last been seen during lunch before all vegetables broke loose, didn't _automatically_ mean _she_ was the one who had _started_ the very innocent food fight that had led her to this moment.

"Food fight? Really Jane? You're 16!" Angela threw her hands up looking like she was asking God why she had gotten three boys when she was sure the firstborn was proclaimed a girl at birth. "You know, I'm sure Mrs. Abernathy down the street _never_ gets these kinds of phone calls when _she's_ in the middle of making dinner."

Jane really didn't know what was for her own best interest at 16 which was why she let out a snort and the following comment; "No, she raised Barbie, what could she possibly be worried about. Except when Barbie meets Ken and they're on their perfect honeymoon and suddenly discovers they're both missing vital body parts."

Jane really didn't like Hayley and her good for nothing posse that usually tortured everyone who wasn't them.

At the moment Angela wasn't sure what was most important. Correct her girl's comment about Mrs. Abernathy's daughter who, in her book, was such a lovely girl, or gloat at the fact that Jane had willingly brought up sex and keep her on the subject. Frankly, the birds and the bees talk was years overdue.

Jane for her own part was still stuck in plastic fantastic land and continued her harassment of the perfect constructed lie that should be banned from little girls room all over the world.  
_"Hey Barbie, where's your brain? I don't know Ken, where's yours?"_

As her mother she should have known better... Angela took a deep breath and delivered her threat the way only mothers could; "As your punishment, I expect you to shower, comb your hair, put on a dress-" She held her hand up mid-air stopping Jane's protests, she was not finished and any excuse or deflection her daughter was about to come up with was of absolutely no value to her- "you will put on a smile, _and_ the flower corsage you're given, be the last one to leave, and if I hear even as much as a rumor that you didn't dance one time you're grounded for a month."

The tantrum that followed was one only Rizzoli women had the guts to follow through with. "First of all, there is absolutely no crime big enough to deserve that kind of punishment. Second of all, when have you ever known me to throw away food? And a perfect cannoli? I would never do that, which _clearly_ means I didn't start it! Third, and this is a good one, dress… Have you ever _seen_ a dress in my closet? Forth, very clever, how do you know anyone is going to give me a corsage? I can't put one on if one doesn't exist!" This was all very true, even though she had been asked to the prom by several brave guys; she had kindly declined every one of them. The boys in her class, herself included, had a longstanding pact that had been in action for all the previous proms. Every prom they'd all meet down at the baseball court and have at it until it got so dark they would have to call it a night only cause they couldn't make out the ball any longer. Those night were one of Jane's most precious memories from her school days and there was no way she was about to trade it in for a dress and sleek hair.

Jane gave her mother a smile. "You know, after careful consideration, I think I'll be fine being grounded for a month."

Unfortunately for Jane, Angela Rizzoli knew her daughter better than she probably knew herself.

"Oh Janie," Jane didn't like the look her mother suddenly had; all smiles and narrow eyes, "I forgot to mention the most important part. When I ground you for a month, it also means you're not going to be at basketball, volleyball or soccer practice, no going skating on the weekends with your friends… The list goes on. Just to give you an idea: One month of being locked up with your mother and cleaning the house, doing the boys chores and your own, which will be the only form for physical activity you will encounter. You will do your homework on this kitchen bench while you wear a smile and help me with dinner. Four weeks, 730 hours, give or take a few minutes."

"I'm pretty sure you're violating some kind of rule for mom's here. You should consider yourself lucky, you know? I'm not spending ridiculous amounts of money for a hairdresser, jewelry, fifteen different dresses that just didn't make the cut, crying because prince charming didn't ask me out. You know," Jane was really laying it on thick this time, anything if it helped her out of a certain death, "most mothers would probably _die_ to have me as their kid and not have to bother with all that."

She had done a good job raising her little one; she realized that in moments like these. "Oh yes, you will be the end of me, no doubt about it." Angela being Angela couldn't help but hug her girl like the first time she had laid eyes on her at the hospital all those years ago.

A hug, that was some kind of peace offering, right? "So I don't have to go then? We're good?" Jane was practically dancing her way out of the kitchen.

"Oh no young lady, you're going. Charles is picking you up at seven. _With_ a corsage.

A loud bang was heard as Jane's foot made impact with the doorframe. "Casey?! What is this? Some mad conspiracy to get me to wear a dress?" She really thought she had pulled it off with her whole spiel about dresses and accessories.

"No, this is what happens when you make Frankie throw the first cannoli during lunch."

"I _knew_ that little weasel wouldn't keep his mouth shut. You know what? Fine, I'll do it, and I'll hate every moment of it, so you just think about that when you go to sleep tonight, how I'll probably need years and years of therapy just to get the image of glitter out of my eyes."

"Love you too Janie, the dress is on your bed."

"And there will be no photo session when Casey comes, if that happens I'm never… I'm never…" What Jane was about to never do again got lost in the shriek that came from her bedroom when she took in the frilly material destined to ruin her reputation in a few hours. "Pink?! You got me a PINK dress? **MA!**"

* * *

That night had been a revelation to Jane on very many levels. First, she now knew why all the girls seemed to despise her. It just so happened that when she was out hanging with the guys playing ball, the girls in her class would be huddled up together on someone's bed talking about how Jane always got to be around their potential boyfriends which was just wrong on so many levels. Especially since she looked the way she did.

Gasps and wide eyes brought Jane to her next revelation the second she made her way over the threshold, which was, the fact that she could look like an actual _girl_ if her mother just threatened her existence first.

The third and most important thing Jane had learned that night was that she would never date a guy for as long as she still remembered her high school prom.

Things had taken a turn to the ridiculous when Casey had made a move to kiss her. She'd let him, just to see what the fuss was all about. She regretted it the instant his lips touched hers; it was nothing like how she'd imagined it would be. A sloppy jellyfish trying to wrestle its way down her throat making weird grunting sounds as it went… That hadn't even been the weird part, which came later, when Jane realized she was supposed to _feel_ something while it all happened. Instead of butterflies and rainbows and what not, she felt… nothing. That wasn't the way it was supposed to be, right? However, the night had ended pretty well anyways. Casey realized he wasn't dealing with just a girl on his hands, this was Jane Rizzoli after all, so he made sure to make up for his mistake by ditching the prom and have them all go down to the field and play one game of basketball before calling it a night.

The most important thing Jane took away from that night was that she had learned her place. She was one of the guys and nothing was going to change that, even if she did look like a 'million dollars', which had made her frown, as it had been mentioned by a few of the guys later that night. That was, of course, before she carelessly tossed the dress in a pile by the bleachers and dug out her t-shirt and jeans from the emergency bag she made sure to sneak out the house, you know, just in case.

Yes, Jane knew how to talk, walk and act around guys. But she wasn't about to ask a guy out. She was about to ask Maura Isles to join her outside work for non-mandatory gathering which she could very possibly say no to, and that in itself shared the crap out of her.

* * *

Alright, thinking box. This is a refined woman, highly educated, young, smart, hot as hell… Jane chastised herself; _don't go there!_ Parts of her brain realized she had probably been spending too much time with the boys as of late. Maura was hot as hell, but she was also beautiful, kind and… A terrifying thought just struck her. Maura Isles was probably the kind of woman who went to the opera or ballet when she had a date.

Without realizing it, Jane had conjured up what she thought was the standard dating rule if one was to court Maura Isles. First dinner at L'Espalier in Back Bay, followed up by some men in tights at the Boston Opera House, then to finish the night, the random douche would probably rent a private Swan Boat that graced the waters of the Boston Public Garden, and hope to get lucky. But he wouldn't, because Maura Isles was a lady god dammit and wouldn't put out just because some guy thought he was being all romantic and every woman's wet dream, right? Right.

_Woah there,_ she wasn't taking Maura Isles on a date, was she? No? No. The word 'date' had never been uttered. No, Maura Isles needed some mess in her life. Lucky for her, Jane Rizzoli knew the perfect place where that would happen and she wasn't even embarrassed to admit it. "Boston Ballet my ass."

* * *

Jane walked into the bullpen the next day with way more confidence than a victim of poison ivy should possess. She should have known she was about to have the following conversation, but that didn't mean she was ready for it. "So, spill, how did it go?"

"How did what go?" Acting nonchalant would have probably been easier if Jane didn't have a tell-tale spring in her step. Of course he would ask, he was a detective after all. Why she had this idea that he would be more concerned with the ongoing case than the chick fight she had pretty much caused was above her pay grade to find out.

"Did you make up and braid each other's hair?" Apparently bugging her for information was more important than the YouTube clip 'Noisy kittens waiting for dinner!' at the moment. Of course it had to be Korsak who walked in on her little monologue…

Jane decided to answer after an epic, hall of fame material, eye roll ensued. "Yes, and then we went for mani-pedi's and shopped for hair extensions and nail polish."

"Hell, you could probably use all of those things."

"And _that_, is the reason you've been divorced three times."

Clutching his chest like it was his last dying breath did have some dramatic flair, but didn't have the affect he had hoped. "Hash Jane, harsh." Had it come from anyone else, it might have been, but this was Jane and Korsak, that was just the way they communicated.

"To answer your question, yes, we did make up-" Korsak was about to interrupt her, but working with him on and off for a year had thought her to always expect something to come out of the old man "-and that thought that you have swirling in your head right now better not make it out in the open or I will make sure there will be no honey glazed donuts in your future or a fourth wife."

Feigning his insult the detective puffed his chest out and posed as if he had to hide on his way to work because of all the women who threw themselves at him. "What makes you think I'm looking for a fourth?"

Jane made her way to the back of his chair, inwardly cringing when her pants managed to rub parts of where the ivy had latched on, closed the gap that was between them and said in a low voice; "That a new cologne I'm smelling?" With a wink and a laugh she had escaped the bullpen before he managed to throw some day old donut at her.

* * *

It had been three weeks since they had worked together in the basement of the Boston Police Department. Three very long weeks filled with chance encounters here and there over some dead body (they were really starting to pile up on this particular case) and a quick 'hello' in passing.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Maura was elbow deep in decaying bodies and knew how busy the Officer was, she might have second guessed herself about opening up the way she had done to the brunette. However, something… and there was absolutely no reason why she should be thinking in the lines she was, _something_… made it ok to do so. Yes, there had been a few moments where she had a serious conversation with her senses over why she would do such a thing, but then that other _something_ came along and reassured her that she had made the right choice in doing so. And that _something_ was two footsteps away from her office door.

"Jane." She looked good. No, that was an understatement. Jane in a uniform was a sight for the gods. A blush worked its way up Maura's neck as the thought manifested itself in her smile.

"Maura, hi, I…" _Wow Rizzoli, this would have been a great moment to remember what you were going to ask her. Come on, you've been building up to this for three weeks! You know what you want to ask her- now spill it!_

_Do you see what she's wearing?_ It would also probably be a great moment to stop having two voices in her head competing against each other to get her attention.

The low growl escaped her before she even realized it. _"Stop it!"_

Maura tilted her head. "Excuse me?" She hadn't been doing anything, had she? Was the blush really that obvious?

Jane both physically and mentally slapped herself. "Wow, alright, so that just came out. Sorry, been a long day. Listen, if you're up for it, that is, if you don't have anything planned this Saturday around noon, would you want to go somewhere with me? I mean, if you're not free that's totally ok, I just figured you might like to get out of this basement for a little while and get some fresh air? Not that the air there will be completely fresh, I can't remember, it's been a while since I was there, not that I'm saying you need fresh air as in you look sick and in need of some, just if you want to, and have the time and… You know what, I'm gonna stop myself right there, I'll just be upstairs looking though some old files and thinking about the mess this conversation was and drown my sorrows in some coffee. Alright, bye!"

Four hurried footsteps later and she was safe for now. "Adolescent boy- meet Jane Rizzoli's body. This will be your body from now on as I, Jane Rizzoli, at the age of 26 _clearly_ have no idea how to hold a normal conversation with a beautiful woman!" If Jane had been a little less wound up she probably would have kept this conversation in her mind, with her mouth shut. She didn't, which is why Korsak giggled silently into his fist and decided to file this information away for a time when he needed a favor. Good thing she was too preoccupied to check if there was someone else in the staircase two levels above her.

It took Maura almost three seconds to decipher what had just happened, but when she did she wasted no time in walking quickly towards the elevator and push the button. 36 agonizing seconds later the doors to both the elevator and the staircase opened and she was face to face with one frazzled Jane Rizzoli.

"Jane, Saturday, 22 Chestnut Street, pick me up at 11:45?"

* * *

A/N1: Mohaha- I know where Jane is taking her, do you?

A/N2: You guys amaze me.

To the anonymous guest who claims I broke her or her fangirl, I can't remember which at the moment- We should talk, it sounds like we have a lot in common. *hands you one more cup of coffee* To the people who managed to read this whole thing in one go: Wow. Do feel like you're in desperate need of a lobotomy? Because with this madness… I'm so sorry for any headaches that might have caused. *hugs all around* Did I mention you guys rock? Scissor, paper? (Yes, doing it again, do not attempt this at home: after 4 redbulls and a good 4 of liters of coffee… my hands are shaking a little, along with my brain. It tingles.)

Funny things that happened while writing this chapter: While typing Jane's date to the prom I, seriously, for the life of me, could not remember Casey Jones' name. I actually had to google it. I guess that says more about me and what I think of him than it should huh…

Final note… hmm... oh! If anyone though I was suicidal or have very horrible problems cause I managed to sort of say something about Maura and Jane going down the Empire State building with or without rollerblades, I can assure you I'm nothing but a drama queen (I got that from my mother) and you should not be worried. Second, I would never have the time because I'm at work 24/7, which is where I'm heading now as a matter of fact, in… 3 hours. Yay, I just love spending my day off at… work. Going to be there for a loooong time, so drop me a line if you want. I'm sorry I talk a lot! I think I've gone mad because my nephew has been singing 'fireman Sam' to me for the last couple of hours. (He's been going at it for three weeks now.)

_"When he hears that fire bell chime_  
_Fireman Sam is there on time…"_


	11. Hope for the hopeless

It was 8 o'clock in the morning and she could still be asleep, but instead of getting some peaceful slumber, Jane was pacing her kitchen carpet back and forth waiting for the water to her instant coffee to boil. Thoughts were scrambled together somewhere underneath her hairline and it was making her dizzy. It was a really bad idea to go somewhere with someone you didn't really know, right? It wasn't like they were at work and Jane could just use any excuse to leave the room or the whole building for that matter, if things didn't go right. But no, she just _had_ to suggest to take Maura somewhere in _her_ car which meant they would both have to arrive _and_ leave together making it way more than just a couple of hours at their destination. Hours filled with awkward silences, weird glances and ridiculous attempts at conversation. "Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!" _Well, you're not that stupid, you're not the one who suggested you'd drive there together, remember?_

Sometimes it was a good thing to have two voices in her brain. It was true, wasn't it? Maura was the one who had suggested Jane come pick her up. Like a date would do. If it hadn't been for the water boiling over, Jane would probably still be standing in her kitchen trying to make sense of it all. Luckily for her, that didn't happen, which was why, after a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal, she had a plan.

* * *

"Hey Frankie, whatcha doing today?" Silence at the other end of the line. "Frankie?" A low growl, not unlike one that would escape her own mouth greeted her the third time she called his name. "Jane… Its… 8 in the morning on a Saturday. Why are you torturing me this early? I've been on call for the past two weeks."  
"Toughen up bro, if you ever wanna make Officer you better get used to sacrifices. Do I have to remind you about the hooker outfit of doom?" Jane sipped her coffee while waiting for the groan surely to come any second. "Oh come on Janie, I was having a good dream, way to ruin it! Fine, I'm up now, no way I'm going back to sleep with that mental image. What do you want?"

"If I say 1pm to 4pm Parkway Plaza in Chelsea Ma, are you in?"

"You're getting the 2 large cheese pizzas and the 3000, right?"

"You know it! Although we both know I won't need more than one. I'll probably give Maura the last 2999. Maybe she'll share a couple with you if you ask nicely."

"How very generous of you. Wait, Maura, as in Dr. Isles?! You're bringing her there?"

Jane knew her brother well enough to know he was burning with questions, and even if he'd proven countless times that he was worthy of her trust, she didn't really know where to start at explaining why she was doing this. Not yet at least. A simple, "Yes I am", would have to do.

"Alright, anything you want me to bring?"Jane secretly smiled into her cup; this was one of the many reasons why she loved her brother so much. He knew when to just go with the flow and trust that she'd open up when she was ready.

"Yeah, we're going for three hours; see if you can't round up Brody and Carew, alright? Oh, and bring Frost too. He'd kill me if we all went out there without him."

"Sure thing, I'll just send a text and tell them to spread the word. The more the merrier, right? Anything else? Wait, do I have the equipment, or is it… no, you're the one who used it last."

Jane's hands flew out motioning to the mess that was her living room; too many hours at work lately had made sure to leave her apartment looking fairly similar to what one would find after a nuclear attack. Jane plumped down on the couch in defeat. "Why do you think I'm up at this hour? I'll probably have to call in a search and rescue team to fight off the dust bunnies in search for them." Making her way into the kitchen again Jane swore as her skin made impact with the solid corner. Blinking away tears she decided it was time to get down to business. "I'll call you when I find them."

A quick shower later, Jane started looking behind her pillows for her phone and hopefully a piece of equipment. Two frantic searches later she realized she'd been getting some ice after hanging up on Frankie, and went to look for the little digital monster some people called a phone. Some spilled orange juice later and it was retrieved from behind the butter. A nervous sigh escaped as she tried to figure out how it had ended up in there in the first place. Alright, one part of her plan was in motion, now for the nerve wrecking part two.

* * *

"Dr. Isles speaking."

"Thank God it wasn't Dr. Victor Frankenstein, then I'd be really worried about where the online phonebook could take you on a bad day."

Who did she know who would come up with a comment like that? When it suddenly hit her, she couldn't help but smile into the receiver. "Jane?"  
_You just had to go with Frankenstein?_ No wonder people never invented new pick up lines. All the good ones were already over used and all attempts at new ones resulted in... well, _that!_ Cringing inwardly Jane couldn't help but shake her head. "I'm afraid that would be correct."

"Sorry it took me a while, I just didn't realize you had my number, that's all. Hi!" She could practically see Maura beaming though her phone. She just had one of those voices that you could tell whether or not someone was actually happy to talk to you or not. Jane liked that about her.

"Well, I figured it would be pretty hard to communicate using tin cans and string in this time and day so I looked you up online." Oh wait, what if that wasn't ok? Before she had time to reflect more upon in Maura had already saved her-

"Oh no, that's quite alright, I just turned on my laptop to do the same actually. I realized I should call you and ask you what I would need to wear for our little outing today." A sinking feeling took over before she could do anything about it. "That is, if you still want to and didn't just call me to cancel…?" Jane quickly realized how she could have been misinterpreted. Holy mother of all cows, who the hell in their right mind would cancel on Maura Isles?!

"No!" Alright, very smooth Jane, scream at the nice lady. Blow her eardrum while you're at it. And who said you didn't do first impressions well…. "I meant, no, of course we're still on, I was actually calling you just to confirm in case you'd forgotten."

Although Maura had spent her life believing there was a scientific explanation for everything that happens, she realized with a startling effect that she couldn't explain why hearing that sentence from Jane made her heart swell. "Maura, you there?"

"Yes Jane, I'm sorry, it was just… never mind. Can you tell me what I should be prepared for today?"

"Oh, now that's a loaded question, and if I told you anything it would completely ruin the surprise, however I will tell you this; you're definitely not strutting down some runway today so dress like you're about to hang out on the couch on a Sunday afternoon."

"That's very unspecific Jane." Just like she could tell Maura had smiled earlier, she could now almost with perfection see the frown on her face.

"That's what makes this a good surprise Maura."

A silence lingered between them which were a first. It wasn't one of those uncomfortable ones where you silently thump your head against any flat surface just to have an outlet for how ridiculous things have become, no, this one was one of those comfortable ones where one really didn't have much to say but at the same time didn't want to let the other person go just yet.

An incoming text on Jane's phone startled them both "Sorry, that was Frankie; I still have to fix a couple of things before I can come pick you up. You think you'll be ready at 11:30? I know we said 11:45 but it quite a drive and I don't want us to be late."

"Don't worry, you go do what you have to and I'll see if I can't find something 'Sunday noon couch time' appropriate in my closets.

"Plural, huh? Well, I wish you luck. Just remember, today is about relaxing and getting messy, don't spend too much energy finding something alright? You won't be wearing it for long anyways."

It wasn't until after they'd said their goodbyes and hung up Jane realized what she had said. A good smack in her own face later and she made a mental note to explain what she had meant about that last comment.

* * *

Jane pulled up in her car at 11:29, not too late, but not desperately early either. If she had been a little less nervous she'd taken one good look at the house and blinked her eyes to see if she had stumbled into some parallel universe where she was picking up a princess, and not a medical examiner, but as faith would have it, she was too stunned to Maura outside work to check if she was driving a pumpkin carriage. This was really happening; Maura Isles was standing on her porch waiting, for…her on a Saturday. She quickly made her way around the car to open the door for Maura. Even if the other woman was impressed by her chivalrous ways, she didn't comment. Everything was sort of a haze to Jane and the only way out of it unfortunately came as a friendly jab at the doctor the second she sat behind the wheel and really took in her appearance.

"Oh," Jane unsuccessfully tried to hold back a snicker, "I'm afraid that just won't do Dr. Isles." Jane took in the designer jeans, cashmere blouse and the three inch heels.

"What do you mean Jane? You told me to dress laid back. This is me being laid back." It had taken her nearly an hour to dig into the very back of her closet to find something she could consider Sunday couch material.

"Then I really want to see how you look when you're going for dinner at the white house." Not knowing the other woman too well, she _could_ see the tiny hurt that appeared in her eyes and to not make a situation worse than it should be, Jane quickly tried to lighten the mood.

"Alright, I'm going to teach the good doctor Isles something now. Are you ready for lesson number one in how to be a slob?""

"Why would I want to be a slob?" And there it was, the frown in living colours. Jane couldn't help but grin. She sat the car in gear and started their hour long journey to their destination.

"You want to be a slob because it's more comfortable. For example, you can get food on yourself without it having to turn into a race against time to get the stain off. If you're a certified slob, you don't care about things like that. I have a blue t-shirt that is dedicated to being a gnocci night t-shirt because if I'm so unlucky that I spill something on it, I can just show it my 'care face' and then go back to eating. See, life would be so much easier if people just succumbed to being a slob every now and then. Plus you wouldn't waste food because it gets too cold while you're trying to save some random t-shirt and then you save electricity if you have a microwave to heat it up for you, because you won't eat that cause microwave food just tastes weird."

"So really, according to your big scaled slob theory I'm saving humanity if I have a slobby t-shirt if I should ever spill any food on it?"

"Basically, yes. See, you're catching on!"

"Why would I spill my food? That is what cutlery and napkins are for."

They hit a red light and Jane was suddenly were aware she was dealing with a real lady on her hands. "You've never spilled food before?"

Maura thought for a while, "No, I don't think that I have?"

Her next sentence held just the right dosage of mixed awe and horror, "Oh , this is going to be an eye opener for you."

A/N: I'm so sorry, I have the whole chapter almost ready, say… 99% ready (this is just ¼ of it), but it still needs that 1%, so you're getting it asap. (Which, will be… in a few days because my asap is greatly affected by my work- which doesn't mean I go around saving human lives every day- cause I realized that sentence sounded like I was a very important person- which I'm not, I'm simply saving my own life from my boss by actually showing up at work- which is… in a few hours. (I feel like I'm starting to repeat myself? This must be a reoccurring problem in my life- crazy work hours. (Boss take notice!) (Kidding, if he ever read this… holy molly.) So many hours in fact that I should have been in bed aaaage ago, but I figured I owed you this much because of your lovely comments and encouragement, so you're getting a… let's call it an appetizer- only because I'm hungry. (I'll also get around replying to your comments, next spare moment!) You guys continue to rock my yellow socks with your reviews and follows, I just want to write! Which is good, cause that means an healthy outlet for everything that's going on in my head- so today you are saving lives, mine specifically. Or, keeping my mind a little less crazy at least, which is no small feat. I salute you. *hugs all around*

PS: No one is willing to take a guess as to where Jane is taking her? There are so many clues!


	12. Details in the fabric

Jane safely guided Maura so that her back was against the building so she wouldn't see the big sign that revealed where they were.

The car-ride over had been nothing like she had expected, it hadn't been awkward at all. They had talked about music and television shows, realizing they had very different taste in both. Talked a little about work and the coffee in the downstairs café, but mostly they had just talked about random stuff that were on their minds- things they usually didn't have time to think about out loud. Jane acknowledged silently to herself that it was refreshingly nice to talk to someone who actually talked back out loud that wasn't one of the voices in her head. They had stopped for coffee on their way and Maura had threatened to steal all her sugar if she didn't get at least a hint about where they were going. Jane on the other hand had managed to keep her lips firmly shut no matter how adorable Maura looked when she tried to be a villain. Except for the curious sideway glances and the not so subtle way of checking the other woman out, it was like carpooling with a childhood friend. Even if they didn't have much in common when it came to music, out of respect for the other woman, the channels were changed every five miles so that they both could laugh and share reasons why their station was obviously the better choice.

They were standing on the parking lot waiting for Frankie to arrive with the rest of the guys. When Maura had started asking her all types of question to try and figure out where they were, and suddenly tried to twist around so that she could see the building behind her, Jane had quickly side stepped her and trapped her in arms. To onlookers it probably looked like the most natural thing, if you considered trapping someone from turning around to be normal that is, but the chemical reaction that happened was a whole different ballpark. To not freak the other woman out, Jane tried to explain herself quickly. "Alright, I can see Frankie's car pulling up from the main road now, I'm going to keep my hands on your face until he gets here. "You really don't trust me to wait for your signal to look?" It was the first time Maura had ever been questioned about her ability to follow through on a request in her life.

"With the way you're tripping on your feet Ms. Curious, no way." Maura hadn't even realized she she'd been doing it. Jane just laughed.

"Alright, here they come. Maura, I'm going to remove my hands now and introduce you to a couple of people. Are you ready?" Maura could only nod in reply. Truth be told, she had the strangest feeling, she found herself actually too impatient to form a reply. Maura opened her eyes and found herself face to face with a small crowd of such a size that she would normally feel nervous, but with the presence of Jane's light touch to her lower back she managed to stay calm.

"Yo Rizzoli, is this the doc we've heard so much about?" Of course they had the tact of a bunch of elephants trying on new wigs for a performance at 'Circus de Weird'. She hadn't been talking about Maura _that_ much, had she?

"Hey man, hang on, let me just explain what's going on here and we'll step inside and get changed alright?" Jane was thankful that they weren't paying them all that much attention and rather catched up with each other after a long week so she could explain things properly to her new… friend.

"We'll be playing teams. You've already met my brother Frankie, and that goofy looking guy standing next to him is Barry Frost, you've probably seen him around, he works in the-" "Hey Rizzoli, heard that!" "Yeah, yeah, shut up or I'll tell the good doctor here to keep you away from all the dead bodies so you don't contaminate her crime scenes!" "Low blow Rizzoli! Hope you brought you A game today, cause just for that, you're going down!"

"Yeah, yeah yeah..." As if the day would come where she would actually feel threatened by Barry Frost... "Where was I? Oh yes, right behind Frost there's Edwards and right next to him you have Alex Brody, Jonny Carew, the tall one behind them is Jason Matthews and finally there's Bill Weatherly, but for some reason we just call him Captain Kirk.

Jane knew it was a lot of names in a short amount of time, but hopefully she'd been correct in her initial suspicion that she was dealing with a genius on her hands. "Think you got it?"

Maura paused for a second and furrowed her brows before reviewing the information she'd been given. "Frankie, your brother, Barry Frost, he works at the department and will somehow contaminate my crime scenes for reasons I am yet oblivious to. Edwards is the one in the cerulean blue cap," Maura turned to face Jane, "actually, did you know that the ancient Greek didn't have a word for 'blue' so when they were describing something which were blue they simply called it 'bronze'?" Jane could only shake her head. "Alex Brody is the tall dirty blonde, the figure to his right is Jonny Carew, Hispanic, Jason Matthews is the one with the broad shoulders to his left and finally there's Bill Weatherly who goes under the conspicuous name Captain Kirk." Jane she really didn't expect her to remember them _all,_ which her baffled expression clearly revealed. Maura just beamed back at her happy for once she had what someone would define as eidetic memory.

Maura turned to face Jane again, looking into those pools of chocolate brown which made her intestines do the most peculiar little dance. "Are you ready to tell me where we are now?"

Still being lost in the clear hazel searching her face for something, Jane blinked to get her head back on track. "Almost." Jane stepped back and affectively blindfolded her again with the use of her hands. Luckily she managed to do so before Maura could notice all the grins coming from the rest of their company.

Jane just rolled her eyes in their general direction, careful so that she didn't lose focus on the precious cargo she was guiding. "Alright, there's a big step coming, watch out."

As the doors swung open her senses were overwhelmed with loud noises and strange smells she couldn't completely place. "Jane, I'm not sure about this..." Maura looked around at the flashing neon lights that was the only thing coming though the palm of the hand gently resting on the brim of her nose.

Jane leaned in to whisper, "Oh come on Maura, where's your sense of adventure?" Jane couldn't keep a grin from her face if she had been threatened by her mother and the countless dates she could escape if she managed to keep her posture for five seconds. "I don't understand why you can't just tell me where we are." Forget 'villain' Maura, _pouting_ Maura had to be the most adorable thing Jane had ever witnessed.

"Maura, do you know what a surprise is?"

"Well, its most commonly categorized into three categories. The first definition is 'to encounter suddenly or unexpectedly, to catch unawares. The second is to attack or capture suddenly without warning. However, as I'm still standing here and you haven't tackled me to the ground I don't think that one is applicable for this situation."

Jane found herself leaning closer to the shorter woman's ear so that her whisper could be heard over the crowded place. "Do you think we'll have more luck applying option number three?"

"'To cause to feel wonder, astonishment, or amazement, as at something unanticipated.' Her voice had cracked a little at the end in anticipation, it was merely a breath when she continued. Jane's body smelled like fresh lavender and something else Maura couldn't quite put her finger on. Feeling her own body shiver without her permission she could only whisper. "Yes, I think we can safely use that one."

* * *

"Welcome to Boston Paintball, what can I do for you?"

Jane cheekily winked at Maura before addressing the young male teenager behind the counter. "Hi, we've got a reservation, 1PM-4PM, small group package, private game? It should be under Rizzoli."

"Alright, let me check."

Maura didn't know if she should laugh or cry. "Paintball? Jane, I don't even know how to hold a gun!"

"Don't worry, that's what you have me for, I'll teach you, don't worry."

"But…" Jane took the opportunity of leaning into her ear and whisper to her while the guy searched his computer for their reservation.

A welcomed chill ran though the shorter woman again as soft raven locks made contact with her cheek. "You wanted mess in your life, and this is about as messy as it gets."

* * *

The reservation confirmed things were about to go down. "Alright, we'll see you guys in a minute!"

Maura followed after Jane as she waved the guys off. "Where are we going?"

"To change, I can't have your fancy pants smeared in paint now can I? Plus these suits will prevent too many Charlie horses on that fair skin of yours."

"Charlie's horses? Are we going horseback riding too?" Why would they mix paintball with horses? That couldn't possibly be humane for the animals or very legal.

"Charlie horses? Horse gummit? The british dead leg, gunt, chopper? Really, nothing? Doesn't ring any bells? Come on Maur-" Jane stopped herself and added the last letter in her name quickly, realizing they probably hadn't hit the stage where she could start calling her pet names like Maur, "and you call yourself a doc." Maura looked lost. Jane snapped her fingers as if she had just solved the Schrödinger's cat paradox. "Ah, it makes sense now. This very moment has to be the reason I did sport as a kid and fell on my ass so many times - so that one day I would stand face to face with a doctor and explain to her what the nicknames for a common bruise is."

"I have never come across those terms in any of my medical books. Are you sure a hematoma is called Charlie's horse?"

"I'll tell you what, after Frankie's taken a few hits I'll make him show you his bruise and you can photograph it and send in a suggestion to revise Gray's Anatomy, okay?"  
"You know Gray's Anatomy?" Not that she would put it passed her, Jane was full of surprises. It was one thing to be referring to 'Gr_e_y's Anatomy the television show, which was what most people did when they tried to impress her with their knowledge over dinner, but Jane had actually used the proper name.  
"What do you mean, _do I know_ Gray's Anatomy, of course I do, read it before bed every night."  
"You do? That's so unexpected, I do the same. Although I like to mix it up a bit, I find B. Alberts, D. Bray, K. Hopkin & A. Johnson's' Essential Cell Biology' a decent read when I want to change it up.  
"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing!"  
There had to be something about her dramatic flabbergasted expression that gave her away. Maura rolled her eyes, Jane realizing she was catching on to her sarcasm.  
"Jane…" There was something about her name when coming from those velvet lips. She could probably listen to Maura calling her name for hours without going insane. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"  
"Maybe just a little." Jane held up her index finger very close to her thumb just to show Maura that on a scale of teasing she was actually being very nice. The laugh they shared confirmed that Jane hadn't gone too overboard with her teasing.

* * *

"Maura, come on, you've been in there for like fifteen minutes. You ready yet?" Jane was sitting on the bench in her black padded suit. She looked like something a space pilot would be wearing if he was floating around in the Battlestar Galactica universe.

"Jane, it's hardly been four minutes, and I'm sorry, but I don't think this is right."

"What's not right?" Jane was fiddling with her gun, trying to remember when she'd actually wiped the thing clean. Coming up blank, she mused that Frankie must have done it. "The size, its… well… I don't think it's meant for people of my proportions." As Maura stepped out from the little bathroom stall Jane knew exactly what she meant. If Jane was looking like a Viper Jokey riding in the colonial fleet, Maura in her outfit was the species she was willing to risk her life saving. "Oh."  
"This isn't how it's supposed to fit, is it?" _If you're a part of a very vivid dream I'll be having tonight that is exactly how it should fit…._ Jane coughed, trying to get the anticipation of the dream away. "I'm sorry, Maura, I think they made a mistake when they thought only adolescent boy and underdeveloped girls would rent their suits…" Her legs and toned stomach was nothing of a problem for the suit to follow, however when it came to certain… highly feminine attributes a little higher up, the poor thing screamed for mercy.

"Alright, we can fix this." _Wait a second, why am I fixing something that is so clearly not broken? Because you don't want all the guys on the planet ogling her. _Right, there it was; logic.  
"Can't I just go ask for a size bigger?"

"No, it fits your length perfectly, so if you get it any bigger you'll have big problems trying to stay on your feet and not stumble over your own legs. The next size up is the one I'm wearing so you'll see how that might be a problem." "Alright, so what do you suggest we do?" Jane had to think for a second, which was completely Nobel Prize worthy of her when all she could see was the midnight colour push up bra Maura was wearing at her display. "Alright. Alright, we can do this. They're very elastic the second you've managed to close the zipper. Does it fit you everywhere else?" Maura moved graciously in front of her stretching her arms over her head. "Yes, the rest is surprisingly comfortable." Jane was still frozen on the image of a bodysuit clad Maura Isles stretching in front of her. "What's that? It fits, alright, good, then… We can do this." _And the Nobel Peace Prize for show of best control over own body goes to…_

Jane moved very slowly towards the honey blonde, afraid she'd go all bananas if she moved too quickly allowing her common sense to shut down. "I need you to take a deep breath, and when you let it out I'm going to quickly zip this thing up, is that alright by you?" "Sure Jane, I don't see why that would be a problem." "I'll count to three…. One…" Jane stepped close to Maura, so close she could see every tiny little adorable freckle on her nose and collarbone," two…." Her hands were reaching towards the two lapels securing the zipper in her shaking fingers, trying her damnest to not stare, "three." Maura released her breath and Jane could feel the minty freshness assault her senses. They were standing so close, if they'd just-""Janie!" Frankie's voice was coming from just outside the woman's wardrobe. "You guys coming? We wanna go before it gets too crowded."

Maura and Jane jumped a part like they'd both been victims of an electric current on the loose. Jane took in Maura one more time, mildly surprised that it had actually worked. In front of her was a goddess, one she'd swear to the higher gods to protect when they made it out on that playing field. "There, all set."

* * *

"Hang on," Well; she couldn't remember _everything_ when she had enough trouble remember breathing when she stole glances at the beauty beside her all the time."Frankie; I forgot the guns. Back of my car, could you run get them while I suit up Maura with the equipment?" The suggestive look he gave her as a reply left too little to Maura's imagination for Jane's liking, but thankfully the hazel eyed beauty was too focused on the hopper in her hand to pay them any attention.

"Wait, Jane, I don't know how to use a paintball gun. Honestly, I've never held a real gun, or any form of gun really, in my hands before; I'm going to ruin your game completely. It would probably be best if I just sat this one out until I have practiced a bit. I wouldn't want your team to lose just because of me."

Jane lowered her voice, so their conversation could be somewhat held in private as she was guiding Maura over to one of the benches so they could get into the right footwear. "You know, for a genius, you're pretty dumb." The way Jane said it made it clear to Maura that she wasn't supposed to take it as an insult. Jane managed to turn her voice another octave down and suddenly she could have been raving about Suricata suricatta's in helicopters for all Maura cared as long as she kept talking like _that_. She glanced over to the guys who were anxiously tripping to get started.  
"There's no way you're sitting this one out. This is about you having fun, not about winning. Listen, we're not about to fight world war three out there," A loud "speak for yourself, Rizzoli!" from Bill was ignored, "this is your chance to do something messy, alright, so just… follow my lead and I'll make sure you'll be the only one standing at the end without as much as a smudge of paint on that suit of yours."

The smile on Maura's face was enough to melt both the poles and jump start a new ice age. "Alright, if you're really sure about this." Jane didn't know how she'd managed to get the most intriguing woman on the planet to go out with her. Not as, in a date, but out for an outing. _Right_. Whatever, she still felt pretty good about it. Jane gave her a little wink for the show of courage. "Alright. Now, the rules." She turned around to get the guys attention. "Guys?" Instead of getting right down to it, the already suited up guys were clearly having problems trying to mask their surprise when they saw the result of a real woman in one of the standard equipment suits.

Jane just rolled her eyes and made sure to glare at each and every one of them before starting herself."Equipment. You've got your suit, and then you have to wear a full face mask, an Air Tank, a hopper, an elbow and barrel bag."  
Knowing what was good for him, Carew followed suit. "The velocity of the .50 caliber balls we use are around 280 feet per second."  
Maura gulped, and took Jane's hand unconsciously muttering more to herself than Jane. "I see I'm about to have my first encounter with Charlie's horses today." After a quick moment of total freak out over the wonderful feeling it was to have such a warm soft hand in her callused own, Jane squeezed her hand back, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Oblivious to the tender moment that was happening right under their noses, Alex ventured on.

"You have all kinds of ways to play this game. After some trying and failing we've come up with the perfect combo. It's sort of a mash up between 'capture the flag' and 'shoot the captain'. That's the game we're going to play today. Unofficially we just call it "Conquer Jane", cause she's always the last one standing." Jane rolled her eyes and muttered "So not true" only to show Maura that she wasn't completely ruthless when given a paintball gun.  
"Each team tries to capture the other team's flag, but the game isn't won before all other players on opposite team are out. You're not allowed to shoot the captain before all his or hers team members are already out. I mean, you can, but it won't matter because she'll be 'holy ground' until that happens."

"You follow so far?" Maura could only nod, taking in all the information like there would be a pop quiz Monday morning.

Jane laughed; each and every one of them contributed in a way that made it seem too rehearsed. She probably should have told Maura that they used to come here all the time at the weekends when she was at the academy. The tradition had followed Frankie and his graduating class, which later had led to both Jane and Frankie's classes meeting up every now and then for an unceremonious battle.

"Now, for the fun part. Who's playing who?" Frankie had come back with the guns from the car. This caused a loud discussion with gentle showing and hollering, probably what someone would describe as the equivalent of men measuring their penises. After a lot of back and forth, Jane only having one rule, that she and Maura would be on the same team, they'd finally reached a decision.

Team one consisted of Bill "Captain Kirk" Weatherly, Jonny Carew, Sam Edwards, Jason Matthews and Alex Brody, which left Jane, Frankie, Frost and Maura on team number two.

Although the teams were uneven they decided it was only fair as Jane counted for at least two. Team captains were a whole other discussion. Bill was team one's captain, which was just a given, he wasn't Captain Kirk for nothing. Team two on the other hand didn't have it so set in stone. "Isn't it time you came down from your high throne and let someone else reign for a little while?" Frankie was looking more like the little brother she had dared to eat a spoon with cinnamon than the young man paroling the streets of Boston with a badge. Not to be outdone, Jane knew how to give back as good as she got. "I get down from that throne when you take it away from me." "How about letting a brother get a chance for a change? Huh? I've already made it though polishing your ancestor's toilets; if you think about it, you kinda owe me." "Frost, now you're just being ridiculous." "Hang on, hang on, I've got it." Jane wondered why they didn't just do this in the first place. "I suggest Maura gets to be captain, then the rest of us don't have any advantages and we can play like a team, right?" Even though Frankie thought it was a great idea and he wanted Maura to feel part of the team, he couldn't just let her get away with being right so quickly. "Who died and made you mother Theresa?" "Uh, mother Theresa?" Jane smacked Frankie's head. The kind of slap that' wasn't supposed to be humiliating, but more to get someone to focus. "Fine by me", Frost's 'fine' sounded a lot more genuine than the _'__fine__!'_ that came out of Frankie, although he made sure to wink at Maura when Jane wasn't looking.

"Wait, Jane, are you sure this is a good idea?" Maura was more than a little anxious at the prospect of having the responsibility for her team either loosing or winning. She was just starting to get comfortable being around so many people, and if she messed it all up by making their team loose… She wasn't an athlete in the same way as the rest of her team. They were used to playing team games, they knew how to have someone's back. Maura was used to the opposite, in fencing it was only you and the person you were up against. Ballet, although they were supposed to be an ensemble, girls going up against each other for the lead didn't really help build team spirit and a sense of belonging. Jane saw the obvious concern the doctor had about being the last woman standing. "Don't worry, to get to you they'll have to go though us, and that's not gonna happen." The confidence coming from Jane being in her element had to be one of the sexiest things Maura Isles had ever witnessed.

Feeling pretty confident with having his sister and Frost on his team, Frankie figured it would be a good time to score some free beers after the game. "Hey, when we win, we can't just start singing "team two" won- we need a proper name for when you losers have to buy us beers at the Robber afterwards."

"Do we really want to drive all the way back to the Robber after we've finished? There will be paint everywhere. I just cleaned the carpets yesterday." Carew looked like he might live in a pigsty, with his scruffy appearance and haphazardly self cut hair, which wasn't very far from the truth because everything he made went into his car budget. _"Who the hell needs pillows, a carpet or even a damn razor when you can have a V8 engine instead of a V4?" _Clearly, his car was his baby and if it hadn't been for the fact that they'd spent around three weeks good-naturedly harassing him for it, they would still have to ride with their shoes on a plastic sheet as to not mess up his pristine car floor.

Bill, living up to his nickname where the original version of him had made the "no-win scenario" winnable, decided it was time to cut in before the boys would start arguing about where the best pizza and beer would be located. "'The Brown Jug' it is then."

"Team names?" The guys looked sheepishly towards the two women. Jane couldn't help but shake her head in defeat. Boys will be boys. The contest of finding the right team name was usually more violent than when they actually had guns in their hands. "Fine, make up a stupid team name so we can go play already!"

Tom being a little older than the rest of the guys on his team knew what was coming and decided the best approach was to just let them have at it and await the situation until something usable came up. Not sure who said what, the conversation was mostly a blur. "American superheroes'!" "Dude, are you trying to offend me? I appreciate my Mexican heritage thank you very much." "The Flamenco's!" "What are we, shooting rainbows?" "The A-team!" "I'm pretty the franchise has the copyrights for that one" "The awesome foursome!" "I know you did not just suggest that." "The invincible musketeers" "Aren't they usually three? Do your math dude!" "The Incredibles!" "I swear, if you call me elastigirl, I'll kick you!" "Black mambas" "Don't like snakes." "Hot raccoons!" "Are you even _trying_ to take this seriously?" "I know, I know, I know! The Spray painters!" Matthew and Jason who had been face to face in a heated argument looked up from their death glares in unison to nod at Sam. "That's actually not bad. It even makes _sense_, unlike the 'Gangster Teddy Bears' Jason just suggested." "Hey, have you not seen 'Ted'? At least it's better than 'Voodoo Masters of Magic'."

Jane dared a glance towards Maura only to check if she was ready to run for the hills. Maybe exposing her to the boy's antics had been a little too early for their friendship. To her surprise Maura was actually following the conversation, looking like she was taking them all into account and evaluating them. Jane made a mental note that she would have to fill Maura in later on the importance of picking the right team name. Bill had had enough and made the team quiet down with a power only he possessed over them. "Everyone in favor of team one being known as "The Spray painters" say _I_!" Seconds later it was official.

"Maura, you're team captain, what's the name of our team?" Jane did not expect Maura to understand what was going on, so when the honey blonde shyly quipped "Veracious Voluptuous and oh so Venomous Vixens and their handsome sidekicks" Jane could only shake her head in disbelief and laugh, letting out a "that's my girl" before she had time to stop herself.

As the guys did a slow clap and bowed their head in her direction she quickly whispered a "Did I do alright?" to Jane, who found herself at a loss for words and made due with a nod and giving her the widest grin her mouth would allow.

AN: To those awesome individuals who guessed paintball- how does it feel to be awesome at guessing? And can I call you up when I'm stuck in some parallel universe and don't know if I should take left or right on my way to the castle?

AN2: Alright, so I know you probably wanted to jump right to the actual game, but this mind just doesn't do logic, so I've managed to fill 8 pages on word with just the preparations. Sorry about that. If it helps, you can all blame the plumber. I do. Explanation follows in one second: I so graciously offered to babysit my sister in laws Nintendo64 because it was lonely. Now, I have never had a gaming console in my hands before, so… damn those stars and my obsession to get them all. It's sort of… I hate myself when I play it because the damn thing won't jump when I say jump or run when I say run, and I can't blame anyone other than myself. However, if I look at it in a different way, it's not _my_ fault that he's clearly a thrill seeker and jumps off cliffs? In other news I think my brain mentally shut down while at the hairdresser today (oh yes, you are now witnessing my day off. It feels nice!) and somehow I ended up blonde. Ish. Maura's blonde, right? Well, honey blonde it is then. It feels weird. I'll be going to bed now. If you hear a scream in a few hours, just carry on with what you were doing, it's just me waking up looking in the mirror haven forgotten I'm now blonde. Ish.

Did I mention I love your reviews and follows? Because I really really do (it's better than redbull and coffee combined* and I go all fuzzy inside for each and every one of you. Today you're rocking my purple socks with ghosts on them (they're a fancy pair) I salute you all and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

* not completely combined, which I suggest you don't try- because that actually tastes awful.


	13. I'll hold my breath

Flashing lights, booming music coming from the intercom in every corner and creek in the dark, who was she trying to kid? Yes, she had told Maura it was nothing like war, however…

"Alright, this is what we're gonna do,' Jane in combat… Maura was trying to come up with words that could describe it, but to her dismay it turned out a word for the pumped up combat ready Jane Rizzoli was nowhere to be found in her personal dictionary. "Maura and I will stay in the back, we're covering the flag, Frost, you take the left flank, Frankie, you're right. Move at speed light, but if you're so stupid you get yourself spotted, know that there's not much we can do for you. If you see any sign of them, head back to our point of entry and we take it from there. They're one more than us so they have the advantage, however if we play our cards right we can easily turn that against them, if we look at it this way, it's only one more person to slip up on their team and give them all away, right? They will travel in pack, that's what they always do, and also the reason we can always tell they're coming a mile away. Jason and Alex have the grace of two donkeys fighting over a food tray so they'll probably be in the front. We'll take no hostages and we don't negotiate, so if you get a code black, you're on your own, but we will avenge you."

Maura was lost in thought; Jane was standing with her gun casually resting on her shoulder, smearing black paint all over her face making sure she would be even harder to spot in the dark. Or, Maura chastised herself; it wasn't actually paint, but a biodegradable and water soluble product that would come off a lot easier. Jane was so set on winning that the tactic speech she was holding made her body move on its own accord, and before she realized what she was doing she had moved over to the M.E. and started stroking the black substance on the honey blonde's cheeks. A crinkled nose followed by a whispered giggling "that tickles", made her more than aware of what she was doing. She didn't know if it was the absurdity of dragging Maura Isles to a paintball game or the heightened ecstasy that followed when the woman actually seemed to be enjoying herself, but instead of freaking out, Jane just tapped her nose with the paint and laughed. Neither woman was privy to see the shared knowing look between their male teammates.

* * *

"Frankie, circle around the flag but don't try and take it down alone, Frost will have your back, but we'll need the element of surprise to catch Kirk, we all know that old dog will be protecting the crap out of that flag."

"What's our surprise element?"  
"That, Frankie, will reveal itself when you see that flag going down. The last time you were captured you almost spilled the beans, so you'll just have to wait."'

"You know, you always do that, leave me hanging not knowing what to expect, I hate it when you do that." They all made sure the straps were tight enough and the guns working perfectly.  
"Well, I'm sure you and Ma can have coffee over the subject tomorrow, _after_ we've won 'oh ye of little faith'."

Maura couldn't help but crack a secret smile, enjoying the friendly banter. It just seemed to flow so natural between them, and with no intention to be hurtful, she actually enjoyed observing it. She had never been exposed to something similar ever before and found it fascinating, however she wasn't allowed to keep that thought lingering as Jane's expression told her she had just missed some cue.

"Maura, you alright to stay behind with me?" Oh, if Jane only knew how much she didn't mind…

"Of course, I hope you take the time to show me how to fire this thing."

"Oh would you look at that, Maura Isles choose now to be funny." Maura just cocked her head to imply she really had no idea what the proper comeback to that was. She honestly had no idea what she was doing, which was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

"Don't worry, when I'm though with you you'll be begging me to give you more rounds so you can go all Leroy Jenkins on this lot." This was met with a silent sniggering from both boys on their team.  
"You might be right, but as I have no idea who this Mr. Jenkins is, I can neither deny nor confirm how my actions will be mirroring his."

"Doctor Isles, I'm appalled, and here I thought you spent all your free time playing World of Warcraft?"

"You're teasing me again, aren't you?" The tilt of her head made Jane give in before things got to escalate.

"See, you're catching on." The wink and dazzling smile Jane gave her caused cutis anserina to occur down her spank clad arms.

"Stay low and don't fool around as long as you don't have a clear shot, don't give away your position just because you want to paint the wall yellow and make it look like you peed there." Both Frankie and Frost waved their hands like it was something they'd heard multiple times before. Frankie filled her in on her suspicion. "One time…. We did it _one_ time and she'll never forget."

Jane turned around to get a handle on what she was dealing with when it came to the medical examiner. However, the breath that was about to form a sentence didn't do a thing to help her on her way as she took in the adorable sight that was Maura Isles.

Maura Isles on an indoor paintball field looked so wrong and at the same time so incredible right.

She somewhat managed to snap herself out of it. "Right…" Jane stood three inches taller than the medical examiner, so Maura had to tilt her head up to look straight into wonderful intoxicating brown orbits. "Am I holding it right?"

Jane took a deep breath and closed the distance between them. As she closed in, her senses were assaulted with the most pleasant perfume that had to just be Maura Isles as she had changed clothes and had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. "Here, if you don't mind…" Jane took the shoulder strap and stepped even closer so she could fasten it, accidentally brushing past Maura's breasts that came into full view as the shorter woman was caught by surprise and inhaled sharply. This in itself wouldn't have been the end of Jane; however, standing so much taller now that the medical examiner was out of her three inch heels, Jane's gaze was cast downwards, and what else than the expanse of glorious pushed up pale skin was in her view…

Jane tried to clear her head, and focus on the task at hand. _Get Maura safely thought the game_. She had to make sure the strap to her gun wouldn't lead to her tripping over objects, which justified their close proximity._ Yeah, that'll work; just focus and you'll get through this. Atta girl! _Jane could only speculate why she would address herself like a dog in her thoughts… _Boobs, it's just boobs. Hell, even you have them! Yes, but they look nothing like…._ Since when was she obsessed with boobs?! What the hell was happening to her? _Damn you perfect anatomy of Maura Isles. _It was a miracle how she was still standing with all the mental slapping going on as she moved further into her friendship with Maura Isles.

It would probably comfort Jane to some level if she knew what was going on- like, in general. However, with the task, and Maura Isles at –literally- her hands, there was no getting down to solving her own mental problems right at that moment.

"How does that feel?" Well if that wasn't a loaded question she didn't know what was. "I mean, how does the strap feel on?" "I don't know I've ever just been on the receiving end of one." Well, that was it then. The life of Jane Rizzoli was over. _Here lies Jane Rizzoli, death by information regarding the use of sex toys in regards to Maura Isles._

A croaked "Come again?" slipped from Jane. "Oh, I'm sure I would." Maura batted her eyes like the most innocent catholic school girl that had ever existed. Even the obituary would haunt her way beyond life; _Jane Rizzoli was one fine officer, and although we all thought she would die a glorious death involving something like saving the world from various flesh eating aliens, it was the inappropriate mental images she was having of her alleged '_friend'_, Maura Isles, the commonwealth of Massachusetts' Chief Medical Examiner, that finally broke her._

It wasn't until all the color had drained from her friend's face Maura realized she might have made a very bad attempt at humor.

"I'm sorry Jane, I'm so sorry. I thought I was finally catching on to the whole teasing and joking using sexual innuendo that has become so integrated in how we interact in society now! I was overhearing someone in the gym the other day and realized that was something I wanted to try out, but I clearly..." Maura was grasping for straws, "I really should have tried something less…." Oh, she'd really done it this time, how could she fix it? "I'm really sorry, can you we just forget I just said that?"  
"Forget that, sure. What were you saying again?" _Sorry brain, you'll never get a full night sleep ever again._ "That I enjoy the use of a strap on? Which was a joke, I'd much rather-"She didn't get to finish her sentence before Jane's hands were gently slapped over her mouth with a smile.

"Lesson number one in teasing; when you say, 'please forget that', whatever it is, and the other person says, 'forget what?' it means they know what its regarding and an indication that it should not be repeated because it's now something you don't bring up again."

"Oh. _Oh!_ So if I say 'Remember that time I used sexual innuendo and you got all flustered, we both know what incident is being referred to, but because we took like a secret oath to never bring it up again we both know what is really being said, but because we agreed that it should be forgotten we don't admit that we know what it's about?"

"No," Jane shook her head, "Not exactly, you're missing the point, but don't worry about it, I'll teach you later alright, one thing at a time. Now, how is the strap to your _gun_?" Maura's laugh had to be something like how an angel would sound calling on sunshine to come on a rainy day. Even if she was held on gunpoint there was no way Jane could help but smile back. "Is it flexible enough so that you can move your hands and at the same time tight enough that you can carry it on your back without it slipping forward?"

Maura moved a little bit, testing out how mobile she was with the gun strapped to her. "Good, that's how it's supposed to be like. Now, the thing you need to remember… You've never held a gun before?" "Well, technically, I have, but merely for forensic reasons." "The important thing is that it's not completely unfamiliar. You have never fired one before?" "Correct."

"Alright, well, this is different than a standard issued department gun. For one, it doesn't shoot bullets to kill, but to paint someone. Second it's not as heavy and you don't have the same backslash that would occur when firing a normal gun."

Jane knew that the hands on method was what usually worked best for her, and hoped it was the same way with the doctor, so instead of showing things on her own gun, she stepped around Maura and guided her hands down to where the more feminine ones were clutching the gun for dear life. "Now… the most important thing, do you know what that is?"  
"Don't draw attention to yourself and stay out of the way so you can shoot everyone before they get to me?" The innocent way it was delivered made Jane chuckle, how was it possible to be that adorable? "Almost, but no, the most important thing is to breathe." Jane quickly added, "_And_ don't shoot me, cause we're on the same team. Frost and Frankie… well, if they become collateral damage…" She squeezed Maura hand just a tad to let her know she was kidding. Maura hummed, it had been too long since she'd had someone so close to her in a physical aspect. Although she had a tad bit of problem doing as instructed she still knew how to repeat a word. "Breathe… "Jane thanked any god that bothered to check in on her for the fact that Frost and Frankie were busy discussing tactics a few yards away. She did not need the catcalls that would echo though the building if they noticed how the two women were standing. "Yes, when you aim, it doesn't matter if you have a bull's eye on your target, cause if you don't control your breath when firing there's no telling where the paint will fly. What I want you to do is take a deep breath when you aim and on your exhale you shoot. The moment you breathe out is the moment where your body is at its most relaxed and when you're most likely to follow through with your intended shot."

Maura stood in shooting position with Jane on her back, although it was difficult to do both with their close proximity she repeated; "Inhale and release, shot at exhale." The deep raspy whispering voice made her shiver. "Inhale." She followed instructions and took a deep breath, feeling as much as hearing Jane do the same behind her. As they both sucked in their breaths, Maura could feel Jane's breasts pressing into her shoulders. "Exhale." Jane's own pointer finger found Maura's at the trigger and when the shot fired into the wall in front of them Jane chuckled at the girlish squeak that escaped the honey blonde.

Maura turned around to reveal a grin so shit eating Jane would singlehandedly volunteer herself to be the target of Maura's paintball shots for a lifetime if she got to witness more of them.  
"Boys, I think I've might created a monster…" Her voice being back to normal, the guys turned around and took in the sight in front of them. The following grins from Frost and Frankie made her realize there was no other place she'd rather be at that moment. So when the sound of the horn signalizing both teams should be ready was heard over the lot she felt pretty good about herself.

"Everyone ready and cocked?" Jane stood with her hand on the flag, her eyes roaming the lot, taking a stanza that would make any gladiator shiver. "Let's bring this team to victory!"  
Maura caught Barry Frost muttering to himself in hidden awe, "and _that_ is why Jane has never lost a game…" The confidence Jane was showing at being in her element made the rest of the team pumped up on winning, even Maura however little she could contribute to that happening.

* * *

They had been at it for almost an hour, running back and forth protecting their flag and protecting their captain. Maura had never had fun in this sense of the word before. Sure, it was _fun_ to test out relativity theories and reading about things that fascinated her, however, this was a whole other type of fun. The kind of fun she had missed out on her whole life, and frankly, she loved it.

Hazel eyes gleamed with mirth as Jane continued to take command of their team. Never had she seen a grown woman be so serious about something that was supposed to be for fun. Not that Jane didn't appear to be having fun, she looked positively glowing the way she tossed herself under rocks and attacked anything that was in her way. The other team was already down two team members because of her. However, what amazed Maura so much was how calculated her movement was. There was not a toe in the wrong place and every bullet hit its target like it was the easiest thing in the world. Maura on the other hand had a little more difficulty. The darn strap her gun was hanging on was threatening to cut off her circulation. However it was a small price to pay for spending her Saturday off in such wonderful company. The only thing that had her actually worried was the suit she was wearing. Jane had managed to zip it up properly, but as she was moving, the thing was threatening to open at the most inappropriate times.

"How you holding up there, Maur?" It slipped out like everything else had started slipping out of Jane as of late. Unfiltered and raw. Maura's new nickname. She didn't even think about it after having said it this time, cause time was of the essence, and the way they were running all over the place, it really was just a more efficient way of drawing Maura's attention. However it didn't go unnoticed by Maura if the smile and watery eyes were any indication.

"You alright? Are you hurt? I knew the suit might be a little too tricky for someone who's used to prancing around in skirts all day long. I'm so sorry, where does it hurt? You didn't hit your shin, did you? Cause god knows how much that can hurt, just the thought of it makes me-" "No, Jane… you called me Maur. No one has ever called me anything else than my given name or," to Jane's dismay, Maura's nose did that cute thing again, where it scrunched up like the nose of a child when faced with something new and yet undiscovered, "Maura the Bore-a, before."

Jane took in the watery eyes and relaxed a little when she was reassured they weren't the direct result of an injury. "Ah well, I'll trade you any day for Roly Poly Rizzoli or Frog Face, so you're not hurt in any way?"

"No Jane, I'm good." She was more than good. Their tender moment were abruptly broken as the sound of a wounded Frost came from somewhere in the middle of the pitch dark in front of them.

"Jane, get his ass!"

"They're coming, get behind me!" The whispered command in itself was probably not necessary as Maura hadn't left Jane's back for the entire time since the horn rang out. They'd been playing on the offense, just guarding their flag from a little distance as to not being made, waiting for the other team to come to them instead of leaving their flag wide open. If it had been any other game and Maura had not been participating, Jane would have sent the rest of her team full throttle towards the other team's flag and stayed behind to protect their own, but now she had more important things to protect.

It suddenly became very obvious to Jane that Kirk had been hatching out some new tactical plans to finally be able to rise to victory, because they were taking some serious heat. They hadn't heard from Frankie in minutes.

"Alright, unexpected, but foolish…" Jane's eyes roamed the perimeter with her gun raised.

"What's unexpected? Should I be ready for an ambush?!" Maura was hunched on her knees behind the comfort of a confident fight ready Jane.  
Jane chuckled silently, "No, you don't have to worry about an ambush." Jane scooted a little further back so the top of her head wouldn't accidently be spotted. They were on top of a height that made it possible to both see the flag and hopefully take out the other team as they tried to move forward. However it wasn't very spacious, and had she known how little place there actually was, she wouldn't have done what she'd just done. The direct result of scooting back an inch resulted in Maura almost lying on top of Jane. She'd used this place multiple times before, but she realized she'd never actually been on the hill with another person. They were face to face, hip to hip, legs tangled up together. Jane made a sound somewhat similar to frog choking on a fly. She could count the eyelashes on Maura's hazel eyes and every little freckle on her nose. _**Or,**__ she could focus on the task at hand! _If Jane ever became a zombie she'd go vegetarian, cause there was no way she'd be dealing with more brains than the fucked up one she already had.

Her voice had dropped a good three octaves, enough to give Barry White a run for his money. "See, everything hangs on Jason taking out the flag. Their plan will rests solely on one of their players. If we take down Jason they're as good as done."

"But won't we still have to take down Kirk?" How was it possible that Maura's breath could smell like peppermint and summer? What toothpaste could possibly deliver that?  
"Yes, but if we take down Jason we're two against one, and we've got this in the bag."

"I fear you rely a little too much on my ability to shoot and actually hit a target with this thing." Yup, she had been right, a Maura smile coming from mere millimeters away was even better than a regular one.

"Don't worry, if everything goes according to plan you won't even have to fire."  
Maura eyed Jane curiously, like she was having a billion thoughts running through her head, trying to make a decision.

As Maura leaned in closer, Jane couldn't help but shiver, their breaths were now mingling. How did people breathe again? "Jane, are you going to make the first move?"

* * *

A/N: Alright peeps, this chapter wanted to hibernate with a bear and never come out; I lured it out with honey, so it's alright if you hate it. I also apologize for getting it out so late. You'll never guess why… hint: *dark work colored cloud settling in on the horizon* I should… go to bed. Honestly, I really should. Too bad my brain goes on… oatmeal for the moment! I kid you not! It's probably the healthiest things I've ever been addicted to- (No, I've never done drugs, even if some of this writing probably says otherwise) however, it _could_ be the load of maple syrup that keeps getting to me. (It's like the perfect mash up of food- all I have to do is boil the water!) (And even if my older brothers both tell me I could easily mess even that up, I didn't this time and I'm well-fed and happy!) What else… yes! Your reviews keeps getting me all… giddy? Yes, I think that would be the perfect word to describe it- I thank you from the bottom of my toe. (Which is way further down than the heart so it means I really _really_ appreciate it.) I figured you'd rather have another chapter than answers to your reviews, but honestly I feel really bad for not replying to you yet. I hope you like late replies, because I'm a master of those. (Some of you already know that) alright, I've gots to go to beds! (That slang really didn't work...) I'll be on a bus for good parts of the day tomorrow- oh the joy of living on an island- so a comment here or there will probably make me carsick while reading it, but will definitely be worth it. You're the best. No protest. (If someone can recommend a book for slang this A/N would probably be smoother.) Love to you all!


	14. On Top of the World

_Prepare for long-ass A/N at the end._

The first move. Right, because who in their right mind wouldn't make the first move on a beautiful woman such as Maura Isles? The answer was gloomily obvious; a chicken shit Jane Rizzoli. Reasons? Too many for her brain to comprehend, but at the top of that very long list; there was the fact that they were two seemingly straight women sitting on a hilltop surrounded by people with guns.

Jane couldn't help but think that, being Maura- probably the world's most adorable and innocent genius- she probably hadn't even thought about all the ways one could misinterpret what to her mind was probably _'a very straight forward way of asking if they should fire the gun or not'_. Given the innocent look she had given her while asking, Jane's suspected that her assumptions were right.

"Jane?"

"The first…." Oh goodie, the bug in her throat was back, and this time it was back with a vengeance, making her voice squeak. When had she swallowed a cricket? _Note to self: do not drive with an open window and an equally open mouth. _Jane tried to look like a person who was in complete control of a situation. Not very surprisingly, she wasn't winning an Oscar anytime soon. Seriously, she should have a word with her brain for coming up with silly notions that Maura would be talking about anything else than their actual game. Why the hell didn't she just speak up like a normal person?

Maura really had no idea about the inner turmoil happening in Jane's brain at that moment. Had she known though, she'd probably make it a point to show Jane how she wasn't alone in their attraction towards each other. If she was being completely honest with herself, she didn't understand how she was able to keep her voice steady in their close proximity.

Jane on the other hand knew she probably looked like an idiot trying to organize her thoughts. Rationally speaking, Jane surmised, she had _not_ just magically entered into a wonderful world where consequences didn't exist and she could get away with a light peck to the glorious mouth that was inches away from her, so no; more than likely, she would end up with a slap to her face and a seriously awkward working environment for the rest of her days at the Boston Police Department. Not to mention the questions that would arise. _"Yo Rizzoli! What's with the shiner?! Heard you tried to make a move on the Medical Examiner here the other day, what, did you honestly think you had a shot? Dude, that woman is a real lady and needs a real man to handle her, if you know what I mean. So does this mean you're finally ready to be the department's class act poster dyke now? Talk about being a stereotype!"_ If she had paid more attention to her surroundings she'd see how Maura was grinning as Jane rolled her eyes at herself. Unfortunately even that wasn't enough to break Jane from her thoughts. Really, _what_ had she done to deserve her thoughts being read to her in what sounded suspiciously like the voice of Crowe? She had been a good daughter, an even better Officer, a great sister to Frankie and one day she'd make an awesome partner to someone if she ever got her Detective's badge. She was a downright decent human being. Jane would have to make an appointment with her brain and set some things straight soon.

First move_, dumbass. This is your brain speaking; you're in the middle of a paintball game. She's not thinking of having your clumsy chopped lips on hers, she wants to know what your next move is as you're losing this game like champs because _you_ can't pull yourself together. What, the perfect woman just comes crashing into your life and suddenly you're as smooth as a prepubescent dude? I'm ashamed to be called yours. Fool. _

Even not knowing much about game strategy, Maura was pretty certain one was not supposed to just wait for the other team to win and just sit put and watch it happen. She figured this would be as good a time as any to break Jane out of her thoughts. She lightly poked her finger in Jane's ribs to get her attention. "The first move, Jane," she whispered. "Do we attack now when we still have the element of surprise, or do we wait until he's in closer range?"

So _that_ her brain could get right. Great. Jane mentally scolded her own imagination for believing she lived in an unrealistic world. Why would she even entertain the idea that their attraction would be mutual? Maura was smart, beautiful, funny, charming, and just lovely. A fleeting thought made her realize that if she ever needed to get into the White House she'd just send Maura to do the ground work. If anyone could charm themselves into the Oval Office it would be Maura. All of this only proved one thing; Maura Isles was way out of Jane Rizzoli's league. "That move. Yes."

Sensing there was something else going on; Maura curiously regarded the woman underneath her. She was just about to voice her concern when Jane seemed to snap into herself.

Maura coked an eyebrow and realized maybe Jane was thinking along the same lines as herself. That there was definitely something going on between them that should be addressed hopefully sooner rather than later. Maura made a promise to herself right then and there; that before the day was over she would figure out where Jane stood on the subject. If Jane was too afraid to make the first move, she would just have to come up with something that would leave no room for misinterpretation. It would have to be later though, when she had a firm handle on how the other woman truly felt about her, and right now Jane looked way too far gone to participate and give useful information to that inquiry.

Instead of verbalizing her intention to move, she managed to twist the gun currently strapped between her shoulder blades to a position where it was actually pointing in a more advantageous direction. "Gun, Jane, do we take him out now, or do we wait until he's closer?"

This was what made Jane an excellent Officer, her ability to snap out of things and focus on the task at hand. With a cocky smile she regarded the woman currently snuggled on top of her and came to a decision.

"Ok, remember when I said that if everything goes according to plan, you won't even have to fire?" The small nod she received and the concerned look in the Medical Examiners eyes made her venture on hesitantly. "Well, things are not going _exactly_ according to plan as my gun in now located somewhere under my body making it possible for it to dig into my butt." The following snort and chuckle was completely un-lady-like but at the same time worthy of a queen, really, Jane couldn't find it in her bones to hold it against her, so she let out her own low chuckle.

"I'm glad this information amuses you. Anyways, we can still win this thing if you're willing to step up your game. We're going to fire your gun, together. You up for that?"

The miniature salute and the whispered "Aye Captain!" that followed with the proper hand gestures took away the very limited space between their faces that until that point had remained. Maura was now breaths away from closing in on lips that had been on her mind for the better part of a their friendship, but instead of going for it, her eyes moved very slowly to the barrel of the gun before her last breath could get caught in another woman's lips, "go for it?"

"Go for it." Jane wasn't entirely sure if her intentions behind the comment were supposed to lead to a gun being fired or lead to the inevitable happening. "You sure?" Maura was staring straight down in dark chocolate colored orbs, looking for any sign of a flight. Maura wasn't talking about the game of paintball going on any longer. This time she definitely was on to something.

"Yes, I'm sure."

Something in the way Jane had sighted and avoided her eyes as she responded irked something in the medical examiner. This was not the reply of a woman pumped up on adrenaline going for the kill and likely supreme victory, the way she had been acting all morning, no, this sounded more like Jane was ready to admit defeat.

Normally Maura would never be so bold to point out something in a social setting that didn't make sense to her, as she rarely understood the way people interacted around her, but this time something told her to throw caution to the wind and ask. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong?" Her nervous hushed laugh probably didn't make that sound completely assuring. Just how smart _was_ Maura? Jane made a deal with her brain to stop freaking out, Maura was probably not telepathic.

"Jane, did you know that while studying forensics I made a point of covering as many of the basis of police work as I could because I knew I wanted to become a Medical Examiner and have to work closely with a unit one day?" Jane made a motion to let her know this was definitely new information to her. Information that managed to make her even more nervous for reasons she was likely about to discover.

Maura just leaned even closer and smirked, knowing she had the upper hand on the situation. "Well, if you knew this you would know that I was mostly interested in the aspect of profiling a suspect. Did you know most people have certain tells if they're lying or feel under pressure?" Their breath mingled, Jane could make out the barely concealed freckles on the Medical Examiner's very cute nose.

How was it possible to be practically threatened and still feel good? The easy smile and smirk she got in return for her comically big eyes just managed to make the whole situation just a tad more surreal. Still, didn't mean Jane had to make it easy. "Maura, I have a paintball gun in my butt. How's that for pressure? No need to tell Maura that what she'd really been thinking was how very out of her league she was and that her fantasy of them together was slowly being shattered by the facts rolling in.

The medical examiner narrowed her eyes at the officer. "Although the notion of a paintball gun imbedded in ones rear is probably not the most comfortable thing in the world, that's not what this is about. Now please, tell me what's bothering you. Please?"

"Is there any way we can just forget about my _feelings_ for a second and take out Jason who is most likely one toe from taking our flag?" The fact that they hadn't heard the holler of victory yet from the other team amazed her.

"Winning is not important, now share."

"You know, when you _command_ someone to share its not really sharing, didn't you ever get the gist from the Care bears?"

"Semantics."

"Is that your professional opinion Dr. Isles?"

"Jaaane…" The doctor knew how to pout. How could she ever get away with anything ever again?

"Fine! If I tell you will you stop pouting?"

"Yes." No, a Maura Isles smile was no less enamoring than a Maura Isles pout.

"Good. I just… Earlier when you asked me if I was going to make the first move… I…." _Chicken shit in three_… "I…" _two_… "I… you see" _one_; "I… remembered that I forgot to TiVo this movie called 'The first move' and I really _really_ wanted to watch it and I think it's one of those old ass movies you can't rent from Blockbusters any longer, and you know, now that I think about it, Blockbuster doesn't exist because people kept illegally downloading things, right? Which is really bad, although yes, I'll admit that there might be a couple of movies and songs on my iPod that wasn't completely legally purchased from ITunes, and also because it's one of these old movies I don't think anyone has actually uploaded it anywhere because it's probably in VHS quality and now a day's people are HD snobs and Netflix probably doesn't have the rights to magically enhance the thing for people to enjoy it so I was really bummed because I realized I'll never get to watch it now."

Maura regarded her for one second. No, there was absolutely no way Jane was going to get away with that reply. "Do you know how high my IQ is?"

"Very very tall? 6''7?" How was she able to make jokes with Maura that close to her? Was there a Guinness World record out there she should have won? She made a mental note to Google that for later.

"You know I know you're lying, right?"

"Jupp."

"And you also know that you're not going to get off that easy."

"No, I wasn't sure about that before right now."

"Tell me what's wrong."

"I'm telling you, nothing's wrong."

"Jane, if I told you I wanted to kiss you four minutes ago when we first started talking about now the notorious 'first move', would that make your inner turmoil cease to exist?" Her head dropped forward, eyes closed, until her forehead rested against Jane's. She wasn't even trying to hide the shallow breaths she was taking. This was the moment. Maura just hoped she hadn't misread their whole relationship.

* * *

Consequences be damned. Jane's hands slid down to cup her ass, pulling their bodies impossibly even more flush, telling her in not so many words that there was no were else they should rather be at that moment. The second Maura felt the touch she opened her eyes and her mouth dropped open. The inhale was cut short by Jane's lips on her mouth. Maura's lips tentatively sought contact with Jane's. All of Jane's previous kisses suddenly became a blur of inconsequential interactions compared to the one she was now experiencing. Her hands had made it their mission to wrap themselves around soft leather and tangle themselves in honey colored locks belonging to none other than Maura Isles.

It was so soft. Jane briefly wondered if she was kissing rose petals but quickly realized that was a stupid thought. No, this was just how kissing Maura Isles felt. A tongue gently massaging her bottom lip suddenly made her breath hitch as Maura was more than content in not keeping it suitable for any children that might be watching their interactions. And she let her. A few moments later, hours, days- Who kept track of something as inconsequential as time when one was kissing Maura Isles?- later and they both opened their eyes lazily to gauge the other one's expression. Jane first reaction was to apologize, but as she took in the rapid way the other woman's chest was heaving she realized she hadn't been the only one who had wanted it to happen. The second Maura's hands started making their way up her neck she let out a low moan that was shortly followed by a softer one coming from the other woman as Jane's tongue dragged slowly over Maura's. Their kiss was a fair share of give and take and made Jane dizzy. She pulled back just a little until their lips were separated by a thin layer of hot air, allowing them to catch their breath.

Maura's fingernails traced a path up until those nimble fingers slid around to the back of Jane's neck and under her hair.

"That was…" Maura licked her lips and tried to stabilize her breathing, "that was… you're a really good kisser, did you know that?" Jane couldn't help but chuckle. "You're not too bad yourself, Doc." Their breaths mingled again and lips connected like it was a rule as they were already so close to each other. After they'd broken off the third time, Jane looked up into a puzzled expression. "No really Jane, if I had known kissing a woman would be so much better than kissing a man I would have done it years ago."  
"Are you telling you've never kissed a woman before?" Jane really didn't know why that surprised her so much. "I haven't actually. Well, I mean, there has been kissing, but not on the mouth."

Jane couldn't describe how happy she was that they were both lying down, because there was no way she would be able to keep on her feet if they were standing. Maura isles were quite literally rocking her world. After Jane had saved herself from death by own saliva she managed to croak out, "well _that_ definitely is a topic for a later discussion."

A loud crack was heard from below them, reluctant to change her position Maura managed to tilt her head far enough up to see what the intrusion was. "It's Jason."

The glint in Jane's eyes was suddenly back. "Alright, are you ready to show him why you never mess with our team?" No place before had she ever encountered a being who was able to spread such enthusiasm and warmth with a single smile. Maura would have to watch herself if she ever wanted to make it to the third date with her clothes still hiding a mystery, because frankly, Jane Rizzoli would be the death of her.

With a wink she was repositioned. "Ready when you are." They maneuvered so that Maura's barrel was sticking barely out from the darkness of their hiding spot. "Alright, remember what I told you?" "Inhale, shoot on exhale." Maura gave her an adorable nod complete with a squint in her eyes that had to be her game face. "Good girl, now, do you have him in sight? Can you lock down his position though your lens?" She received another affirmative nod. "Wait until he's completely still, he's expecting an ambush, but he has no idea we're already on to him." Jane took a deep breath and her hands once again found their way around Maura's body. "I'm going to hold you down so you don't fly off this thing when you fire." See? No ulterior motives to spot for miles, Jane could totally be a gentlema…-woman if she wanted to. Safety first.

TBC…

* * *

A/N1: If you have something you'd like to see; please poke me (gently), as I still don't know where this is going. Like, no clue what so ever, I was thinking of making this the last chapter, but then that didn't seem completely fair, because you're all so darn awesome and I feel like there's probably more to be written.

A/N2: Still working un-betaed, still not a native English speaker- I shall own my mistakes like a champ! (but if you see anything glaring at you, I wouldn't hold it against you to slap me and tell me to fix it. I actually think I'd hug you back.)

A/N3: Well, good news- I'm not dead. Horrible news: I've turned into one of those people whom I secretly love because they produce such frigging amazing stories, but then they never update, not that I think my story is one of those amazeballs ones where you go; whaaaaat! How do you DO that?! (In regards to the authors imagination and just awesomeness overall) Yes, alright, I think I might owe you all a big apology: I am very sorry for being so… incredible…. Late. I don't completely understand how it's possible how I ended up this way, but I think I can recall some events that might have had something to do with it: I got my license. (Which I could have taken quite a few years ago, but I kept having this nightmare where I ran over children and stuff, so I was quite weary over getting it in the first place, but then I realized there were so few things I couldn't control in my life at the moment, and this I could, so I went ahead and got it.) Things I haven't been able to control as of late: First of all, my life in general, which is fine, no one should have complete control all the time, that would just make life predicable and uneventful. However, I've been waiting for a visa to go to Canada for… 11months now, and I was just informed that THAT wasn't going to happen, because the man I made a deal with (alright, that sounded vaguely suspicious, let me explain: former teacher, he's an actor, and yes, looks like a villain, and is often cast as one, but he's not a bad guy per say) didn't really come though in the end and didn't do the ONE thing he had to go to get me the workers visa. And because he was so lacy on his end, all other schools I should have applied to was a no go. Which leads me to the second 'gaaaaaah!' thingy as of right now that is my life; I have no idea what I'm doing, or should be doing. Yes, I have a steady job, but a monkey could do this job and I would die very slowly if I had to work there any longer. (Yes I'm grateful for my job; especially when I think about everyone who struggles to make ends meet, don't get me wrong.) Trouble with this job is, I could do it in my sleep. I _have_ done it in my sleep actually. It was fun until I drooled. Yes, so, my point is; I have no idea what I want to study. All I know is that I need a proper education and the sky is the limit. So if you have a suggestion, PLEASE let me know. (I love travelling, (have been around the world and volunteered) have a diploma from a dramatic arts school, had the most absurd time being a model while going to school (seriously, it's so very weird, but at the same time there's something about bringing a big mac to shoot and watch the expressions from the other people in the room) LOVE the English language, should never ever EVER be exposed to a job that requires even the basic form of math skills. _Especially_ if other people's lives depends on it. And… There you go: brainstorm! In other news: I haven't killed anyone yet, with my car that is, nor have I killed the car. All good. Other news; I think maybe perhaps one other reason why I've been so absent is because I re-watched Once Upon A Time with a friend of mine and Lana Parrilla… Lana Parrilla. I don't think that needs further explanation. Plus he made me watch Nikita, and then there's Maggie Q. In complete other news! A deer ran into me the other day! (Yeah, when I told my sister in law she laughed her ass off.) Point being, it's completely doable! I was walking in the forest, listening to music, minding my own business- thinking about what I should do with my life, but no burning bushes or anything…- and as I was walking around a corner- I ran into a deer. Or, actually, he ran into me. There was a bang, raincoat meeting deer skin, and then there was a moment of silence. Well, except for the music coming out of my ipod. We just stood there. (Now I have firsthand knowledge of the expression: 'deer caught in the headlights (and another one, but that one is too insane and involves driving over 200km/h and was really really stupid and I shouldn't talk about it) because that was really it, we just stood there looking at each other. Absurd. Then I took a step back, and he took a step back, and this whole ordeal kept happening until he found cover behind a tree. The staring didn't stop there though, we just kept at it until I realized it was 2 in the morning and I should be heading back. And… confession, while writing this chapter, it fell to pieces because I ended up on youtube looking at regina mills and damn swan queen videos. I think I might be cursed. However I found the cure! Season 3 R&I gagreel! Whohoo! I talk a lot, I know. It's lonely when all you have is a staring contest with a deer in the forest now and then. My apologies. Did I mention I love your reviews and follows? I do. A lot. *hugs*


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